Volatility Helps Virtu Boost Income From U.S. Stocks by 53% 2018-05-04 11:40:59.6 GMT (Bloomberg) -- Virtu Financial Inc.’s income from trading U.S. equities surged by more than half in the first quarter as the high-frequency market maker profited from wildly oscillating stock prices. Net trading income from U.S. stocks climbed to $215.7 million, it said in a statement Friday, a jump of 53 percent from the previous quarter. Earnings from fixed income, currencies and commodities more than doubled to $66.3 million from the October-December period, while earnings from trading equities outside the U.S. slipped 4 percent to $33.4 million. Virtu completed the $1.3 billion purchase of rival KCG Holdings in July, dramatically increasing the scale of its business. The company’s overall net trading income climbed 54 percent to $313.5 million quarter-on-quarter. “The first quarter of 2018 saw the return of volume and volatility,” Chief Executive Officer Doug Cifu said in the statement. “Our profitability and margins this quarter demonstrate the earnings power and competitive advantage of having a scaled and unified firm.”