After reading headlines like “Wall Street faces existential crisis” or “Investment banks braced for a nuclear winter” (both written, I confess, by me) you could be forgiven for thinking that the latest round of earnings from Wall Street banks would make for miserable reading.

Lacklustre activity in financial markets, overcapacity in the industry and an increased regulatory burden would surely mean that profits were going to be, at best, flat to slightly up on a poor 2011.