Wall Street bonanza! The Street on track to hit a record $90 billion in profits: Report

Wall Street is printing money in 2026, with NYSE investment firms on pace for a stronger year than anticipated; profits reached $45.9 billion in the first half of the year, an increase of 51.3% from the same time in 2025, according to a report released Tuesday morning by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

If the pace of growth continues, those firms’ profits could exceed $90 billion in 2026.

While many firms in the wealth management and financial advice industries are not directly tied to the NYSE member companies on which DiNapoli based his analysis, financial advisors are also reaping the rewards of record highs in the broad stock market and interest from buyers like private equity investors in their practices.

But advisors should tread carefully, said one veteran industry executive.

“For financial advisors, it’s prudent to remember the old saying to eat your own cooking,” said Peter Nesvold, managing partner of his eponymous firm Nesvold Capital. “Advisors should think about and focus on diversification because gains in clients’ portfolios are concentrated in small number of technology or AI stocks.”

“That’s the reason why more advisors are showing interest in private market investments,” Nesvold added.

DiNapoli’s report uses a traditional measure of the securities industry’s performance by looking at the pretax profits of the broker-dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange - NYSE - member firms.

There are 168 NYSE member firms, down from more than 200 in 2007 before the global financial crisis.

Increased trading activity amid shifting market conditions, enthusiasm around artificial intelligence and increased merger and acquisition activity helped drive the strong performance, according to the report.

Despite strong first-half results, risks remain, including ongoing global conflicts, high inflation and rising interest rates, the outsized contributions of the AI sector, and the deregulatory push of the current administration. 

Employment in New York City’s securities industry rose to 207,400 jobs in 2025, the highest level since data tracking began in 2000, according to the report.

From 2019 through 2025, employment in the securities industry in New York state increased 12.2%, or 24,300 jobs, the largest number of jobs added by any state during this period.

New York state had 223,600 securities industry jobs in 2025, more than twice the 102,600 in California, which ranked second nationally. 

While New York added the most securities industry jobs during this period, some states experienced faster rates of growth from smaller employment bases, according to the report.

From 2019 to 2025, Texas added 18,800 jobs, an increase of 25.8%, reaching 91,800 jobs in 2025. Utah had the nation’s fastest growth rate at 46.1%, reaching 10,900 securities industry jobs.

The average annual salary, including bonuses, in New York City’s securities industry rose 11.1% to $561,770 in 2025, according to the report.