HSBC Share Price down by 0.8 after company reports drop in profits

HSBC’s profits drop 20% to $6.8bn (£4bn), largely because of a fall in income from investment banking. Banks are making less money from trading because of a fall in transactions and their own need to save cash to provide a buffer against future banking crises. HSBC’s fall in profit was also amplified because last years figure was swelled by one-off asset sales.

Lower 1Q14 revenue – 1Q14 underlying revenue was US$15,709m, down 8% from US$17,135m in the same period in 2013 mainly reflecting the reduced impact from significant items of US$1,076m. Excluding these items, revenue was lower by US$350m or 2%, driven by Retail Banking and Wealth Management and Global Banking and Markets, partly offset by growth in Commercial Banking.
HSBC share price down by 0.8% in early morning trading.
At 597.7p, HSBC’s share price is down 18.5% on this time last year, a period in which the FTSE 100 has risen 3.3%.
more to follow…