Goldman Sachs grew third-quarter equities trading revenue 72% from a year earlier to $6.44 billion, the fastest gain among the biggest US banks.
Stock desks carried Wall Street's third quarter, and Goldman Sachs ran furthest ahead.
Equities trading revenue rose from a year earlier at all six of the biggest US banks. Goldman Sachs led at +72%, followed by JPMorgan at +49%, Morgan Stanley at +41%, Wells Fargo at +21%, Citigroup at +14% and Bank of America at +10%.
Prime brokerage drove the gains. Goldman's equities financing revenue hit a record $3.37 billion, up 96%. That's the business of lending hedge funds money and securities to make their bets.
Bond desks went the other way. JPMorgan's fixed income markets revenue fell 4%, Morgan Stanley's dropped 7% and Bank of America's slid 17%, which the bank blamed on an 85-basis-point jump in rates during the quarter.
Bank trading revenue now leans heavily on hedge fund leverage and rising stock prices. As long as stocks keep climbing, the trade works.
This chart first ran in today's Opening Bell Daily.
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