Morgan Stanley

Money Moves

Posted record equities trading revenue in Q1 2026

The six largest American banks wrapped up their first-quarter 2026 reporting with combined net income of $47.3 billion, delivering a near-uniform message from Wall Street: trading floors thrived on the volatility unleashed by the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz closure, while the broader economic outlook grew cloudier. JPMorgan earned $5.94 per share on $50.54 billion in revenue as fixed-income trading surged 21 percent to $7.08 billion. Citigroup posted its best quarterly revenue in a decade at $24.63 billion. Bank of America earned $1.11 per share — its highest earnings per share in nearly two decades — while Morgan Stanley posted a record equities trading quarter of $5.15 billion and a 29 percent jump in profit. Goldman Sachs led the week with record equities trading revenue of $5.33 billion. The results arrived even as the banks collectively announced roughly 5,000 job cuts, a sign that Wall Street is using the profit windfall to trim headcount rather than expand.

Updated Apr 19