If the current rally in financials is predicated on how great an environment this is for banking operations - borrowing money for free and lending at prevailing rates - why is it that JP Morgan's Net Interest Margins are the same as last year? It looks like the entire beat was generated by bond trading - which means usurious bid/ask spreads, most likely.
Even the bankers are warning that these profits are unsustainable . . . yet the markets are still loving 'em.
This article available online at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2009/04/question-of-the-day-where-i-did-i-those-bank-profits-come-from/16262/
