Wall Street’s AI party is an exclusive affair

Brian Moynihan knows how to spoil a party. Speaking at an investor conference this week, the Bank of America chief executive predicted that investment banking fees will fall about 10% industrywide in the third quarter, with his firm faring even worse. It’s a surprisingly dour note as high-tech fervor seizes markets. Yet it makes sense: fewer and larger deals, a private equity slump and concentration in artificial intelligence are set to widen the gap between Wall Street’s top consiglieri and everyone else.

Investors have seemed confident of an impending boom in transactions. Shares of Goldman Sachs, home to leading deal advisers, have surged. Lenders with smaller investment banking franchises, like Wells Fargo, have lagged. Moynihan's comments, though, suggest that the industry’s recovery is not unfolding as broadly as might be expected.