First, it was the pandemic, which sent stocks down sharply in early 2020. A massive infusion of government cash arrested the decline and fuelled a swift recovery. Everything went up. Meme stocks, a boom in public offerings and the crypto craze followed. Now, inflation and recession fears are sending everything back down again.

Banks make money on the way up and on the way down through trading desks that work the connections between buyers and sellers. JPMorgan and Citigroup both expect the second quarter to be among their best ever for trading revenue. At JPMorgan, trading revenue is expected to rise 15% to 20%, executives said recently. Citigroup expects trading revenue to jump more than 25%.