Underlying profits at Bank of America's markets unit rose by more than a fifth in the third quarter, as higher revenues from both fixed income and equities trading combined to yield a more upbeat performance than a year ago.

The US bank on Wednesday followed Wall Street rivals JP Morgan and Citigroup in reporting year-on-year improvements in fixed income sales and trading in the third quarter. At Citi, FICC revenues rose 5% year-on-year and at JP Morgan they were up about 2%.