Equity trading drove Lehman Brothers' net profits to a record $1.1bn (€869m) in the first quarter, but flat fixed income trading on the back of weakness in the US mortgage market left the bank in the shadow of rival Goldman Sachs, which opened the reporting season on Wall Street yesterday.

Net profits at Lehman climbed 6% in the three months to February from $1.09bn last year as the bank just beat analyst predictions on the back of record revenues from trading, investment management and from its businesses in Europe and Asia. This quarter was the first-ever in which Lehman reported revenues above $5bn.