US banks expected to deliver strong results - papers

US financial groups face high investor expectations for strong earnings growth in their first-quarter results in spite of subdued markets for equity trading and investment banking in the first three months of 2010.

The FT reports a slump in equity issuance, a fall in takeover activity and a sharp decrease in volatility - the swings in share prices that boost banks' trading revenues - would force banks to rely on debt underwriting and fixed income trading for their profits, analysts said. "Evidence of cyclical headwinds on investment banking and equity sales a d trading revenues in March tempered earnings expectations . . . and once again set the stage for a focus on FICC [fixed income, currencies and commodities] as the wild card for earnings growth in the quarter," wrote Brad Hintz of Bernstein Re...