Bank executives have been warning that recent gains were likely unsustainable. This week’s comments from Mason, Dimon and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman show a shift to expectation-management mode — not by stressing that the current trend is bleak but emphasizing that last year, by comparison, was phenomenal.
In flagging Monday that fixed-income securities and equities trading is slowing this quarter, Dimon said, “The quarter last year was exceptional. Last quarter was exceptional. This quarter is what I’d call more normal.”
