The overall pro forma rate per contracts for all CME Group volume decreased 2% to $0.849 compared with $0.866 in the fourth quarter 2008, primarily due to lower price interest rate volume increasing from 36% of total a year ago to 43% this quarter. Sequentially, the rate for contract increased $0.015 from $0.834 to $0.849 due to a 1% increase in the metals proportion of the product mix and a favorable pricing impact from changes implemented in August and September of 2009.
Market data revenue of $82 million for the quarter decreased 6% versus last year and was up 1% sequentially. At the end of the fourth quarter, users subscribed to 396,000 base devices across CME, CBOT and NYMEX, down 9% versus Q4 of last year and down 1% sequentially. During Q4, we had a benefit from a billing adjustment that resulted in a positive sequential revenue growth. We have announced a professional screen fee increase from $55 to $61 per month beginning in January of 2010.
I''ll now take a few minutes to review expenses. Total pro forma operating expenses were $258 million from Q4, down 2% versus Q4 last year, but up $14 million or 6% sequentially. Total expense for the year was $998 million, down 8% as we delivered the NYMEX related synergies and ratcheted down our discretionary expenses.
Drilling into Q4 expenses, compensation and benefits was up $4 million sequentially to $88.6 million, due primarily to higher stock-based compensation. Stock-based compensation was $9.9 million in the fourth quarter, up $3 million from Q3. We moved our stock option grant date from mid-June to mid September and some prior-year grants rolled-off to June, resulting in lower Q3 expense. Our combined headcount at the end of Q4 stood at 2,260, up slightly relative to the prior quarter.
Our fourth quarter bonus expense was $11.8 million and for the full year, the bonus expense totaled $39 million, down 13% versus 2008. Non-compensation expenses of $170 million were down $6 million versus last year and up $10 million sequentially. Comparing to last quarter, the primary increases were in the professional feed line, up $4.7 million due to fees associated with our strategic initiatives and miscellaneous litigation and in the other expense line of $4.4 million due to increased marketing costs, primarily related to sponsored conferences and currency fluctuations.
Q4 pro forma operating income was $409 million, the high water mark for 2009. During the fourth quarter, we were able to maintain a strong pro forma operating margin of 61% and we finished the full year with an operating margin of 62% compared to 64% in 2008. We viewed it as a significant achievement in light of the challenging environment throughout last year.
In the non-operating income and expense category, on the investment income line, we received a $5 million dividend from BM&FBOVESPA in line with Q3. During Q4, we paid down $225 million in debt and as of the end of December, we had $2.3 billion of debt outstanding and $303 million of cash and marketable securities. Interest expense totaled $30.7 million in Q4.
During the quarter, we continued to pay down our debt by rolling less commercial paper, which carried a rate of less than 0.3% in the quarter. We expect our interest expense to remain at a similar level to Q4 for the next two quarters.
After paying off $900 million of debt during the year, our debt to EBITDA ratio is down to 1.2. Looking forward, we have a $300 million payment due in August and we intend to pay off the remaining instruments on their maturity dates. The detail related to debt structure is included in our earnings slide presentation on the website.
For the quarter, our pro forma effective tax rate was 41.2%, bringing us to 41.1% for the year. Looking to 2010, we expect an effective tax rate of between 41 and 42%. Capital expenditures net of leasehold improvement allowances totaled $43 million in the fourth quarter and $137 million in 2009, driven primarily by data center, software, equipment and facilities costs.
At this point, I would like to provide some insight and guidance related to our plans for 2010.
First on operating expenses. Our normal growth rate from 2001 to 2007 was 8% to 10%. In 2008, our pro forma expenses dropped 2% followed by an 8% drop in 2009, during a period in which we benefited from the synergies captured on our recent mergers and we compressed discretionary spending as far as we could, including items which were onetime in nature.
As the economy shows signs of emerging from the recession, our outlook on growth is improving in 2010. We expect a return to more normal expense growth levels resulting in annual 2010 expense of approximately $1.1 billion. Within compensation, after holding salaries flat in 2009, we expect a 5% increase due to merit and promotion adjustments for employees and to the impact of new hires.
In terms of stock-based comp, we expect a similarly quarterly run rate as we saw in Q4 of approximately 10 million to $11 million per quarter. Lastly, our bonus expense totaled $39 million in 2009, down from $45 million in 2008.
Looking ahead to 2010, our target employee bonus is approximately $54 million based on reaching our internal 2010 cash earnings target. If our cash earnings for the year are 20% above our cash earnings target, employee bonuses would be approximately $82 million. If we are more than 20% below our target, the bonus will be a minimal amount for non-exempt employees. The non-comp expense increase from 2009 is expected to come in many of the technology oriented expenses as we are aggressively building out our new data center.
In addition, marketing and other expense is expected to rise during 2010 to roughly $23 million a quarter on average and it is likely to be more front-end loaded. The higher level is attributable to advertising, promotion and travel expenses, driven by our desire to expand both our global reach and our OTC capability. Licenses and fee sharing will likely rise based on contained growth in our energy and equity businesses.
As always, during 2010, we will continue to spend on growth. We anticipate deploying additional OTC products, bringing the European Clearinghouse online during the year and working with various other strategic initiatives.
Turning to capital expenditures, as I mentioned earlier, we spent $137 million in 2009, well below our original 2009 guidance and down from $205 million in 2008. In 2010, we anticipate between 180 million and $200 million of capital expenditures, driven by technology-related projects as we now populate our new data center.
In summary, we are proud of our results during a challenging year. We made incremental progress during 2009 after a fairly large shock to the financial system. We were very careful on expenses and at the same time, we continued to make investments in growth as reflected in our signing of various partnerships and laying the groundwork for significant OTC clearing opportunity.
And finally, we are optimistic about the strong start to 2010 with January volume averaging 11.2 million contracts a day, up 19% versus January 2009. We will now open up the call for your questions, but in order to get to everyone, we are limiting all of you to one question and one follow up and then please feel free to get back in the queue as time permits.
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