Wall Street 2014 Profits Forecast To Dip Lower Than Last Year

Wall Street may not be as profitable in 2014 as it was last year, according to estimates by the New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli on Tuesday. According the a budget report released by the state comptroller, profits in the first six months of the year were nearly 14% lower than the same period in 2013. Profits hit $8.7 billion in the first half of the year for the broker/dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange member firms compared to $10.1 billion for the same period last year, according to DiNapoli's office. That puts Wall Street on pace to trail last year's full year profits. The state comptroller estimates the securities industry, an key tax-revenue driver for New York, is smaller by 15% since the financial crisis, employing a total of 162,400 jobs as of August 2014. Over the past three years, the securities industry has shed 10,500 jobs, including 2,600 lost between August 2013 and August 2014, and has not contributed to the city's jobs recovery as it did during prior recoveries, said DiNapoli's office. In 2013, Wall Street profits fell by 30% due to high legal settlement, estimated to be $130 billion, related to the financial crisis. Apart from legal expenses, Wall Street has been working with regulators to adopt new reforms to prevent another crisis. "Wall Street remains very profitable, but earnings may be constrained this year as the industry pays a price for behavior that contributed to the financial crisis," DiNapoli said.