The New York Stock Exchange today reported that its firms lost a collective US$2.5 billion in the third quarter.

NYSE member firms reported a third-quarter 2007 after-tax loss of US$2.49 billion, it said. This compares with US$2.64 billion in after-tax profits for the same quarter last year.

Third quarter revenues reached US$78.79 billion, down slightly from US$81.76 billion for the third quarter of 2006.

For the first nine months of 2007, the firms reported after-tax profits of US$3.29 billion on record revenues of US$263.87 billion, compared with after-tax profits of US$8.67 billion on revenues of US$237.96 billion in the first nine months of 2006.

The data is from NYSE member firms that conduct business with the public. The category generally also includes firms that trade primarily for their own account, but excludes specialists. Their revenues are predominantly derived from investment banking, trading, commissions and interest.

Since the NYSE member firm community is composed of corporations and partnerships, after-tax earnings are presented on a pro-forma basis that assumes a corporate tax rate of 35%.

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