By Joe Wallace

A trading flurry around President Trump's election victory boosted profit at Barclays.

-- The trans-Atlantic bank swung to a quarterly profit equivalent to roughly $1.2 billion.

-- Stock-trading income leapt 44% in dollar terms, thanks to haywire market moves before and after the election. Income from trading bonds, currencies and commodities, a traditional strength for the bank, jumped 32%.

-- Another bright spot was the U.K. retail bank, where profit in the December quarter more than doubled from a year earlier.

-- Barclays said British consumers seemed in good financial health, and the housing and mortgage markets were picking up speed.

The results showed the benefits for Barclays of retaining a significant investment bank, whose volatile returns have long been a source of frustration for investors.

However, investors were underwhelmed by targets laid out as the next stage in a three-year turnaround plan under Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan, who is widely known as Venkat. His goals for this year include stepping up shareholder returns, cutting costs, and delivering an 11% return on tangible equity, one measure of banking profitability.

Shares, which have doubled since Venkat unveiled his broad strategy a year ago, fell more than 4%.

"Overall a solid set of results, but little new to get excited about either," Citigroup analyst Andrew Coombs said in a note.

Some analysts said a forecast for net interest income-earnings from lending, net of borrowing costs-was underwhelming. And analysts at Peel Hunt said the investment bank's performance appeared to lag that of bigger U.S. rivals.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 13, 2025 05:38 ET (10:38 GMT)

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