Major U.S. lenders broadly beat expectations as a rebound in IPOs, mergers and debt issuance lifted results and executives pointed to strong deal pipelines.
Corporate earnings season opened with major banks broadly beating expectations, helped by a sharp recovery in Wall Street dealmaking. The six largest U.S. banks reported average second-quarter investment banking fee growth of 45% from a year earlier, as stronger IPO, mergers and debt issuance activity boosted profits and executives at Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan cited healthy pipelines.