Trading was a weak spot for U.S. brokerage firms during the second quarter of 2005, and this weakness was echoed in other parts of their businesses, too, according to a new report from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services.

Trading in credit products was particularly weak. Interest rate trading and commodities trading, in general, were weak, as was equity trading, it says.

“Poor conditions in securities markets spilled over to investment banking, especially in IPO underwriting, which took a dip, but also, to a lesser extent, in merger and acquisition completions,” it adds. “Investment banking revenues were also down at most firms during the quarter.”

“Trading problems in the second quarter are behind us at this point, and the current quarter looks to be shaping up to be another run-of-the-mill third quarter, except that we feel it will be better than the second quarter for the industry,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Tom Foley.

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