The second-quarter sales and trading pain laid bare by Wall Street’s banks looks to have hit Europe too, with Credit Suisse this morning setting the tone for the region's reporting season with news that plunging fixed income revenues dragged pre-tax profits at its investment bank to less than half what they were in the previous quarter.

Second-quarter profits at Credit Suisse's investment bank fell to Sfr784m (€581m), 53% below their level a year ago and down even further from the Sfr1.8bn figure recorded in the first three months this year.