Bear Stearns sees 81% profit rise

Mergers and acquisitions activity is helping Wall Street firms

Strong trading in bonds has helped another US investment bank report a massive leap in earnings.

Bear Stearns saw profits rise 81% to $539m (£291.4m) in the second three months of 2006, easily beating analysts' expectations.

Investors showed they were impressed, with shares in the company climbing 2% in early US trading.

Wall Street banks are enjoying a resurgence as merger and acquisition activity picks up and markets rebound.

'Best ever'

This week, Goldman Sachs said record investment banking and trading revenue had pushed profits to $2.31bn in the second quarter of 2006, from $865m.

And Lehman Brothers said it had made a second quarter pre-tax profit of $1.49bn, compared with $1.01bn last year.

However, the performance of both firms was overshadowed by concern about whether they would be affected by a market downturn.

Bear Stearns' capital markets business, which includes investment banking, saw revenues climb 40%, while its fixed income business, which underwrites and trades bonds, jumped 44.5%.

Chairman and chief executive James Cayne said the first half of 2006 had been their "best ever".