Wall Street job cuts loom as market turmoil stalls deals

NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - U.S. investment banks are poised to cut more jobs if economic uncertainty continues to weigh on dealmaking in the months ahead, according to analysts and recruiters.

U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to impose tariffs on trading partners have roiled markets, weighed on capital markets activity and raised the risk of an economic slowdown. The turmoil has taken some of the shine off Wall Street expectations that deals would pick up this year under a business-friendly administration.

Wall Street banks including JPMorgan JPM.N and Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab have already begun annual culls targeting underperforming employees, while Goldman Sachs (GS.N), opens new tab and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab are planning to lay off staff in the coming weeks.

If deals do not recover in the coming months, other major banks and boutiques will be forced to reevaluate their workforces, analysts and recruiters warned.

"There's an expectation that investment banking pickup is delayed, not dead," said Mike Mayo, a banking analyst at Wells Fargo. "But if we're having this discussion in the middle of the summer, that could be a different story. If the revenues aren't coming in, then employees bear the brunt."

Larger banks are quicker to reduce headcount, while boutiques could follow later, said Chris Connors, principal of Johnson Associates, a compensation consultant.

"If the pipeline does not materialize quickly, then they’ll make moves to reduce staffing levels," he said.

Global investment banking fees fell 6.3% to $16.83 billion in the period from January 1 to March 13, versus $17.96 billion a year earlier, preliminary data from Dealogic showed. The plunge is even sharper compared with the fourth quarter, when fees ...
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