WASHINGTON -- US banks' trading profits fell 84 percent in the first quarter as they continued to be slammed by losses on mortgage-linked securities and other complex financial instruments.
Banks' trading gains of $1.13 billion were down from $7 billion in the year-ago period, according to a report released Thursday by the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. The credit crisis started out last year as defaults rose among subprime loans made to US borrowers with poor credit. It has since spread to other types of loans and securities backed by those loans.
Total global losses from the mortgage and credit problems are projected to approach $1 trillion.
