A spring in their step

摘要

Three years after the bull market ended and the brutal cull of jobs on Wall Street and in the City of London began, there is suddenly a lighter mood among those who still have a job. A clutch of big investment banks have reported decent second-quarter results, and those yet to come are also likely to be good, considering the recent gloom. Most of the banks' new profits have come from a roaring bond market, fuelled by falling interest rates. But now other businesses are stirring too. Stockmarkets are up around the world: this week America's S&P 500 index went above 1,000 for the first time in nearly a year. The mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) market is showing signs of life. Companies are tip-toeing into the equity markets. "In the last month or so, there has been a different mood," says one senior investment banker.