Goldman Sachs, BofA, and Morgan Stanley drop record-breaking Q2 earnings reports

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley just dropped their Q2 earnings numbers, and let’s be honest, Wall Street analysts got smoked. All three blew past what analysts had projected, thanks mostly to market chaos and a surge in trading activity.

Between Trump’s tariffs and global volatility, this quarter gave banks the exact kind of mess they know how to monetize. Goldman Sachs came in swinging, pulling in $14.58 billion in revenue to beat the $13.47 billion estimate by over a billion.

Most of that came from trading, which outperformed what analysts had guessed by $840 million. That alone is wild. But the company’s earnings landed at $10.91 per share, way ahead of the expected $9.53. Bottom line: profit surged 22% year-over-year to $3.72 billion.

Equities trading did the heavy lifting, bringing in $4.3 billion, up 36% from last year, and $650 million more than what StreetAccount’s surveys had predicted.

Morgan Stanley crushes equity and wealth numbers

Morgan Stanley wasn’t far behind. The bank posted $2.13 in earnings per share, beating the forecasted $1.96. Revenue came in at $16.79 billion, topping estimates by literally more than $700 million. Net income rose to $3.5 billion, a 13% increase from the $3.1 billion reported this time last year.

Its institutional securities division saw a boost, posting $7.64 billion in net revenue, up from $6.98 billion last year. Client trading activity was strong, especially in equities. That trend’s been consistent, and CEO Ted Pick made sure to point that out, saying, “Six sequential quarters of consistent earnings … reflect higher levels of performance in different market environments.”

Another part of Morgan Stanley’s strength came from wealth management. That segment delivered $7.76 billion in revenue, driven mostly by asset management fees. It’s a solid gain from last year’s $6.79 billion. And if you’ve been watching the market, you’d know Morgan Stanley’s stock is up over 12% year-to-date, more than twice what the S&P 500 has done. That momentum didn’t move much in premarket, but still, it’s there.

BofA benefits from chaos and nets record profit

Bank of America might have played it more quietly, but its Q2 was just as deadly. The bank posted a record quarter on the back of wild market swings and a strong bump in net interest income. Revenue from FICC trading (fixed income, currencies, and commodities) rose 19% to $3.25 billion. That’s massive. Equity trading added another $2.13 billion, a 9.6% increase year-over-year. Both numbers came in well above what analysts had braced for.

Markets have been shaking since April, when President Trump dropped his tariffs bomb on U.S. trade partners. That disaster translated into wins for BofA’s markets business, just like it did for the rest of Wall Street. Instead of banking on M&A rebounds (which didn’t materialize), these banks capitalized on fast-moving markets and huge client volumes.

One big win for BofA was net interest income, which climbed 7.1% to $14.7 billion. Analysts had expected just a 6.5% rise. That’s the revenue banks earn from loans, minus what they pay depositors, basically their bread and butter.

CEO Brian Moynihan said, “Consumers remained resilient, with healthy spending and asset quality, and commercial borrower utilization rates rose. In addition, we saw good momentum in our markets businesses.”

Net income for the quarter came in at $7.12 billion, a 3.2% jump from the previous year. That’s also well above the $6.56 billion analysts were expecting. And for BofA, which is the second-largest bank in the U.S., beating those numbers in this kind of market isn’t something Wall Street will brush off.

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