Bank of America, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs: Wall Street cashes in on market volatility
Wall Street’s banking giants pocketed record revenues in the first quarter of 2025 as market volatility ramped up.
Top lenders were able to smash profit expectations after reaping the rewards of a trading boom caused by President Donald Trump’s erratic tariff agenda.
Trump’s bait-and-switch on tariffs triggered countless sell-offs as traders across the globe ditched stocks for safe haven investments.
But for lenders, the turbulence shot them to unseen highs.
JP Morgan comfortably topped first-quarter estimates after booking $46bn (£34.7bn) in revenue. Analysts had pencilled in $44.11bn.
This was driven by a 48 per cent surge in takings from equities trading, which reached $3.8bn.
The bank’s first-quarter profit reached $14.6bn.
Trump’s tariff whipsaw sent Bank of America’s equities trading revenue soaring 17 per cent to a record $2.2bn.
Profits climbed over 11 per cent to $7.4bn whilst total revenue rose six per cent to $27.5bn (£20.8bn).
Morgan Stanley’s equity trading was a standout in the quarter, surging 45 per cent to $4.13bn. This boosted a record total revenue of $17.7bn (£13.4bn).
Earnings jumped 26 per cent to $4.32bn.
Goldman Sachs revenue hit $15.06bn (£11.4bn) – a six per cent increase from the first quarter of 2024.
Profits soared 15 per cent from the year-earlier to $4.74bn on the back of sell-offs.
Revenue from equity trading jumped 27 per cent to a fresh high of $4.19.
But, the lender faced difficulties in its investment banking arm.
As mergers and acquisitions activity cooled, lower advisory revenue dragged investment banking fees down eight per cent to $1.91bn.
Wall Street chiefs raise alarm on future
The lender’s first reporting period of the year narrowly missed Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ levies.
The President’s flurry of tariffs across trading partners sent global markets into a tailspin and lenders made some of the biggest losses.
Shares in Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have slumped over 12 per cent since the beginning of the year. Bank of America stock has sunk over 17 per cent.
JP Morgan edged back up in recent trading sessions, but is still down over two per cent for the year.
Bank bosses have since raised the alarm on the trouble ahead.
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JP Morgan Chase, warned of “considerable turbulence” ahead, including the “potential negatives of tariff and ‘trade wars’”.
Goldman Sachs’ boss David Solomon said the second quarter would have a “markedly different operating environment”.
And Bank of America’s chief Brian Moynihan said they “potentially face a changing economy in the future”.
Back in London, HSBC will kick off the first-quarter reporting season for the UK’s top lenders on April 29.
Shareholders in some of the FTSE 100 giants, including Barclays, Lloyds, Natwest and Standard Chartered, will be eying how tariff turmoil may have impacted bank’s operations and future risk appetite.