US bank profits withstand trading hit from China, Greece

New York

Large US banks reported mostly higher second-quarter earnings this week even as a pullback in trading revenues due to crises in Greece and China dented results. 

The biggest hit came at Goldman Sachs, where revenues in bonds, foreign exchange and commodities trading fell 28 percent in the second quarter.

"Obviously Greece has been in the headlines continuously and that certainly weighed on spread-sensitive parts of the business like credit and mortgages," said Goldman Sachs chief financial officer Harvey Schwartz.

"And so it's not surprising that we saw reduced client activity in the quarter."

He said volatility in the Chinese stock market since mid-June also had rattled investors. 

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest US bank by assets, cited Greece as a key factor in a 10 percent decline in bond, foreign exchange and currency trading. Bank of America saw a nine percent drop in this category, while Citigroup's fell one percent.

"The quarter was dominated by EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) with a bond sell-off and economic and political uncertainty, including Greece," said JPMorgan chief financial officer Marianne Lake.