Bank of America Corp. reported a second consecutive quarterly loss today in its global banking and markets division, which includes trading and underwriting operations. The entire company swung to a $1.99 billion profit from a year-earlier loss as mortgage charges eased. Morgan Stanley lost $250 million during the quarter, as trading volumes and mergers and acquisitions fell.

'Difficult Question'

"It's either a slow cyclical recovery or secular, and I don't think it's clear what it is," Morgan Stanley Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said today in a telephone interview. "However you look at it, it's a slower growth environment." Morgan Stanley has reduced headcount to account for the slower-than-expected recovery, she said.

The grim outlook for trading was a recurring topic on Goldman Sachs' analyst call.

"Your revenue weakness recently, are you saying none of that is due to secular factors?" Mike Mayo, an analyst at independent research firm CLSA in New York, asked Viniar during the bank's conference call. "It's all cyclical? There's no structural change that's hurting your revenues?"

The market doesn't seem any worse than the fall of 2008 or when the bubble in technology stocks burst years earlier, Viniar said in response to analysts' questions. Still, he would never be so bold as to rule out a lasting change, he said.

"We've all been doing this for a long time and we've seen downturns before," he said. "Every time you're in one it feels like it's never going to end and this world is different now."

"So is it cyclical? Is it secular?" Viniar said. "It's a very difficult question to answer."

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