The front page of the business newspaper The Financial Times this morning, April 16 2025, reports on the fallout from the US tariffs. The lead story reports that Wall Street banks reap $37 billion after traders ‘cash in’ on the volatility caused by the tariff chaos.
Wall Street banks reap $37bn after traders cash in on Trump volatility
Wall Street’s biggest banks reaped almost $37bn in trading revenues in the first quarter of the year — their best performance in more than a decade — as Donald Trump’s administration unleashed a barrage of market-moving announcements.
The combined performance by JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup marks a return to favour for a business that until 2020 had been a shadow of its pre-financial crisis form.
Trump’s second term as US president has ushered in a period of economic and policy uncertainty, particularly around tariffs, that has led to wild stock market gyrations and created opportunities for traders to exploit market moves.