The largest US banks report better than expected for the first quarter

Today, April 16, two leading US banks – Bank of America (BofA) and Morgan Stanley (MS) – presented the results of their activities in the first quarter. A day earlier, he submitted his reports Goldman Sachs (GS). All three banks beat analysts’ forecasts for key operations, but BofA’s profit fell 18% compared to the first quarter of last year, to $7.2 billion. Experts attribute this to the influence of high Fed interest rates, which are still in place, so banks continue to pay There are high interest rates on customer deposits. Another reason for the decline in BofA’s profits was a 40% increase in reserves to cover problem loans. After the publication of the results, BofA shares fell by 4%.

Unlike Bank of America, which is active in the retail market, the other two banks—Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs—are more focused on investment activities. Therefore, their first quarter results differed markedly from BofA’s. MS’s profit rose 14% to $3.4 billion, helped by strong results from its asset management, securities trading and investment banking divisions amid still-high Fed interest rates. MS shares rose 2.5% after the publication of the report. A similar picture is observed at Goldman Sachs: its net profit in the first quarter grew by 28%, to $4.1 billion, thanks to the same securities trading and investment banking operations. After the publication, GS quotes rose 2.9%.

Evgeny Khvostik