Big Banks Had a Big Quarter — What Happened in Plain English

America's biggest banks reported results for July through September 2026 on October 13, 2026. Profits were expected to run up to 20% higher than a year earlier.

The date comes from Forbes. The expectation was reported before the results by Reuters. The outcome was described as strong profits across the biggest banks by the Boston Herald.

Citi earned $2.85 for each share of stock. Analysts had expected $2.66 on average, according to Reuters. That average guess is called consensus. The gap was about 19 cents.

JPMorgan earned $5.57 per share. The estimate was $5.85, according to Reuters. The miss was about 28 cents. Fees from helping companies with deals fell 8% in the same report. The report pointed to strength in trading.

Goldman Sachs earned more than expected for the quarter, according to Reuters. Money from stock trading rose 72%. Fees from deal work rose 21%.

Wells Fargo also earned more than expected, according to Reuters. But net interest income and total revenue came in below expectations. Net interest income is what a bank earns on loans minus what it pays savers.

Outside the banks, share sales at OpenAI and Anthropic created hundreds of new millionaires, according to the Wall Street Journal. Those private sales were not counted in bank profits for the quarter. Bank investors still watch them as part of the fee and wealth backdrop.

The broader context here is that a good quarter for the group can hide big differences. Trading and investment banking revenue varied across Wall Street, as noted by Forbes. Think of regular lending as a steady paycheck and trading as tips that change week to week. JPMorgan's deal fees fell 8% while Goldman's rose 21%. Citi's 19-cent beat looks different from Wells Fargo's beat with low interest income and revenue, where costs, reserves or other items did work that loan income did not.

In my view, it helps to look desk by desk instead of treating all banks the same. Steady lending helped the group, while trading desks drove the gaps. What to watch next is whether interest income steadies so trading swings matter less for return on tangible common equity, profit measured against core capital, and whether deal fees even out or stay split in the last three months of the year.