Do bankers still get company Blackberrys?... Asking for a recovering analyst. Citigroup kicked off a slew of earnings reports from big banks Monday — profits rose 7% to $4.8B, but revenues inched up by just 2%. At home, surprisingly stable financial markets hurt Citi's chances to make trading revenue. That trend is expected to affect JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs when they report their April-June results today.
Big corporations aren't playing in China anymore... For huge companies that do business all over the world, it's important to have a worldwide network of bankers — Citi's got that. Citi's huge corporate clients though aren't borrowing from Citi as much, especially in China.
- Related: China's economic growth slowed to the lowest rate in 30 years, hitting a 6.2% growth rate. The trade war between the #1 and #2 countries in the world has put a damper on foreign investment over there.
Interest rates aren't helping, either... Most stocks ripped their tops off to bask in low interest rate rays expected to hit this summer. But banks actually benefit from high interest rates because they can make more money off customers' deposits and through lending. And the Fed's policy shift to cut interest rates (to boost the economy mid-trade-war) has pushed stocks of major banks down 12% over the past year (according to a big bank ETF).