Wall Street banks are predicting another banner quarter for their trading desks.
Bank of America Corp. expects second-quarter revenue from sales and trading to increase about 15% from a year ago, Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan said Wednesday. And JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said markets revenue at his bank could rise 11%, which would make it the second-best quarter ever for that business.
Trading gains already helped fuel a record haul for the biggest US banks in the first three months of 2026, with stock trading in particular benefiting from a wave of volatility generated by the Iran war and concern about disruptions from artificial intelligence and private credit.
Bank of America has been using more of its balance sheet to support trading and to invest in technology, Moynihan said at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference. And last October, it promoted Denis Manelski and Soofian Zuberi as co-heads of its global markets business.
“You have to really be willing to put a lot of scale to work in a very highly talented, nuanced business to the client,” Moynihan said. “And the team’s done a good job of that.”
Speaking at the same conference, Dimon said investment-banking fees could rise 10% or more in the second quarter.
“It’s gung-ho, folks,” Dimon said. “Sponsors are busy, companies are busy, there’s a lot of exuberance out there.”
But the good times also mean the bank, the biggest in the US by assets, will be spending about $1 billion more this year than executives previously expected, he said. The increase is “mostly driven by better performance, so it’s a good extra billion,” Dimon said.
Dimon also said JPMorgan might have a chance for another large acquisition at some point, though he said asset prices are high right now.
“I do think there might be, in the next couple years, a chance to put $10 billion to $20 billion to work buying something,” Dimon said, adding that JPMorgan is “on the lookout.”
Even amid tariffs and the war in the Middle East, Moynihan said the US economy remains strong, reflected in persistent consumer and business spending and steady unemployment rates.
Bank of America’s net interest income, which accounts for more than half of the firm’s revenue, will also be “good and solid” this quarter, and could reach the higher end of the bank’s 6% to 8% target for the full year, the CEO said.
First-quarter earnings were the highest in nearly two decades at the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company, driven by record revenue from the stock-trading desk. The bank raised its full-year guidance for NII in April following the strong first quarter.
Bank of America has also been hiring wealth advisers and expects revenue from that business to increase by a percentage in the low-teens, Moynihan said. It’s focused on keeping costs under control, and aims to maintain operating leverage at around the first-quarter levels, he said.
The firm has said operating leverage this year will be about 200 basis points, meaning revenue will outpace expenses by that amount.
Written by: Yizhu Wang — With assistance from Hannah Levitt @Bloomberg
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