Tags: jpmorgan | citi | traders | brutal | 2018 | finish

BofA Joins Banks Pointing to Trading Rebound to End the Year

BofA Joins Banks Pointing to Trading Rebound to End the Year
(Dzianis Rakhuba/Dreamstime)

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 01:54 PM EST

Bank of America Corp. joined its biggest rivals in predicting a trading rebound to close 2019.

Trading revenue is up 7% to 8% from last year’s fourth-quarter, led by an increase in the fixed-income unit, Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said Wednesday at an investor conference in New York. Investment-banking fees are on pace to finish the year up 3% to 4%, he said.

Citigroup Inc. said at the same conference Tuesday that its trading revenue is set to rise by a percentage in the “high teens,” while JPMorgan Chase & Co. said its results are set to rise “meaningfully.”

Last year’s final quarter was rough on banks’ trading desks as wild market swings kept clients on the sidelines, with JPMorgan’s bond-trading unit posting its lowest revenue since the financial crisis. BofA posted $2.5 billion in trading revenue a year ago as its fixed-income revenue also dropped.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. won’t be repeating 2018’s rough close to the year.

Fourth-quarter trading revenue will rise “meaningfully” from a year earlier, driven by the fixed-income business, JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Piepszak said Tuesday at an investor conference. Citigroup CFO Mark Mason said at the conference that the bank’s trading revenue in the period is set to rise by a percentage in the “high teens.”

Brian Kleinhanzl, an analyst at KBW, wrote in a note last week that major U.S. banks will probably post an average 25% jump in fixed-income, currencies and commodities trading and a 3% revenue increase in equities.

“I can tell you that we expect to be up meaningfully year on year, both FICC and equities, more so in FICC,” Piepszak said. “I’m not going to put a finer point on it than that because we still have a lot of runway in front of us for the remainder of the quarter.”

Last year’s final quarter was rough on banks’ trading desks as wild market swings kept clients on the sidelines, with JPMorgan’s bond-trading unit posting its lowest revenue since the financial crisis.

JPMorgan bond-trading revenue plunged 18% in last year’s fourth quarter, to $1.86 billion, more than outweighing an increase for the equity business. Citigroup posted a 14% drop in overall fixed-income and equities trading revenue, amounting to a total $2.61 billion for the period.

“We’re not immune from the weather,” JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said when last year’s results were released.

Mason on Tuesday warned that Citigroup expects investment-banking revenue to be flat to slightly down from a year ago amid less client activity in the fourth quarter. He added that expenses for the period will rise after the firm made cuts a year ago.

Piepszak said Tuesday that JPMorgan expects investment-banking revenue to be flat relative to last year, when it generated $1.82 billion in fees. That’s more optimistic than in October, when the firm’s executives predicted a decline.

Bank of America Corp. CEO Brian Moynihan is scheduled to discuss the bank’s prospects at the conference Wednesday.

© Copyright 2026 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.


StreetTalk
Bank of America Corp. joined its biggest rivals in predicting a trading rebound to close 2019.
jpmorgan, citi, traders, brutal, 2018, finish
498
2019-54-11
Wednesday, 11 December 2019 01:54 PM
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