U.S. mid-sized banks' profits would remain under pressure for most of 2024, Wall Street analysts said, as higher deposit costs and muted loan growth drag their earnings. Regions Financial, Huntington Bancshares and Fifth Third Bancorp joined peers in reporting smaller first-quarter profits on Friday, due to a steep fall in their interest income. Net interest margin, a key measure of banking profitability that takes into account earnings from interest on loans and payments on deposits, also contracted across regional lenders for the second straight quarter.
Credit card giant American Express posted a 34% jump in its first quarter profits on Friday, helped by more customers spending on its namesake cards as well as more customers keeping a balance on the cards. The jump in profits for AmEx came largely from higher cardmember spending on their accounts as well as more balances collecting interest. AmEx takes a small percentage of each transaction spent on their cards as a fee from merchants, which was its primary business model for decades.
Prince Harry has won the latest skirmish in his legal battle with the publisher of The Sun after the High Court rejected an application to delay a trial, insisting it should go ahead as planned next January
Country | G | S | B | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | 39 | 41 | 33 | 113 |
China | 38 | 32 | 18 | 88 |
ROC | 20 | 28 | 23 | 71 |
Great Britain | 22 | 21 | 22 | 65 |
Japan | 27 | 14 | 17 | 58 |
Australia | 17 | 7 | 22 | 46 |
Italy | 10 | 10 | 20 | 40 |