Debt saved the day at Wall Street’s bulge-bracket banks in the three months to September as equities trading revenues went down for all but one bank, equity underwriting rose for three, and only two made any headway in M&A advisory.

Ranked by percentage increases of revenues from fixed income, currencies and commodities, Bank of America Merrill Lynch took the third quarter crown with a 361% improvement at $2.54bn, followed by Goldman, up 72% to $2.4bn, Citigroup rose 63%, to $3.7bn, Morgan Stanley rose 36% to $1.5bn and JP Morgan climbed 33% to $3.7bn.