Profits rose in the first quarter at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) firms, even as revenues stagnated.
The NYSE reported that firms that deal with the public — not including market makers or prop trading firms — recorded aggregate after-tax profits of approximately $9.4 billion (all figures in U.S. dollars) in the first quarter of 2020, up from $4.5 billion in the same quarter last year.
The profit surge came even as revenues dipped year over year. Firms reported revenues of approximately $60 billion in the first quarter, down from about $62 billion in the first quarter of 2019.
While total revenues were down a bit from last year, commission revenues were up, rising from $4.8 billion in Q1 2019 to $6.4 billion this year.
Firms also had tighter controls on their purse strings this year, as expenses came in at under $49 billion in Q1 this year, compared with more than $55 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
The rise in profits also boosted firms’ annualized return on capital to 11.2% this year from 5.9% in Q1 2019.
Firms’ total assets were also up from last year to $3.84 trillion, from $3.4 trillion a year ago.