Bank Q3 scorecard: GS ~+4% on $17.01 EPS and +72% equities, JPM miss but bid, WFC ~-3% on revenue, C flat

[LondonNewsTrader]

Follow-up to this morning's prep thread now that all four have printed and we've had the open. Same sector, four very different tapes.

GS (strongest)
- EPS $17.01 vs roughly $13.0 expected (LSEG), revenue $18.68B vs ~$16.7B.
- Equities $6.44B, +72% y/y, driven by derivatives and prime/portfolio financing. Not a record (Q2 was $7.42B) but well above estimates.
- FICC $3.47B, flat y/y and below the ~$3.7B estimate. IB fees +21% to ~$3.2B.
- Stock was up around 4–5% pre-market and holding near +4% early in the session.

JPM (miss, but bought)
- Reported EPS $5.57, or $5.75 excluding a significant item, vs ~$5.90 expected. Revenue a touch light too, which is unusual for them.
- Equities +49% but FICC missed. Dimon also said they cut buybacks this quarter.
- It dipped pre-market, then turned positive and was about +1% early. Classic "priced in" reaction after a huge Q2.

WFC (revenue the problem)
- EPS $1.87 vs $1.85, but revenue $21.87B vs ~$22.3B and NII $12.52B came in light. They kept the ~$50B full-year NII outlook.
- Weakest of the four, down about 3%.

C (beat, no reward)
- EPS $2.85 vs ~$2.66, revenue $23.85B vs $23.72B, CET1 12.8%, $4.1B returned to shareholders.
- Roughly flat. Some of that was likely pre-earnings positioning (it rallied Monday).

How I'm reading it for intraday: the market is paying for trading revenue (GS) and punishing NII/revenue soft spots (WFC). With GS/WFC on opposite sides, a GS long vs WFC short spread is the obvious relative-value idea. Don't forget MS and BAC report tomorrow pre-market, the same morning as CPI, so expect sympathy moves in GS/MS into the close.

Sources: CNBC bank earnings live updates, Benzinga on Goldman's trading desks

Are you trading the GS breakout or fading it into MS tomorrow? And does JPM turning green on a miss tell you anything about how heavy positioning was going in?