Goldman Sachs Group NYSE:GS, a major U.S. investment bank, generated $985 million in equity underwriting revenue during the second quarter ended June 30, representing a 130% increase from the same period last year. The performance placed Goldman ahead of the other large U.S. banks as Wall Street recorded its strongest second-quarter equity capital markets revenue since 2021. Goldman held the lead-left position on SpaceX's record-setting IPO and also led more than $85 billion in equity financing for Alphabet NASDAQ:GOOGL, a technology company. Goldman and Morgan Stanley NYSE:MS, another major U.S. investment bank, reportedly collected roughly $100 million each for their roles in the SpaceX offering. Morgan Stanley's quarterly equity underwriting revenue increased 70% from a year earlier to $851 million.
JPMorgan Chase NYSE:JPM, a major U.S. banking group, generated $829 million in equity advisory revenue during the quarter, an increase of 78% from the previous year. The banks also benefited from active demand for equity-linked offerings, including convertible bonds, with issuance reaching more than $166.7 billion this year, up 82% from 2025. Walter Todd, president and chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital Associates, said the large banks benefited from sharp equity market and individual stock volatility during early April and throughout the quarter. Investors may view the results as evidence that major IPOs, volatile markets and rising corporate financing requirements have helped strengthen Wall Street's equity underwriting business.
Morgan Stanley projects that artificial intelligence spending could reach $1.3 trillion next year, potentially creating further demand for capital across the market. Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick said the AI investment boom was likely to support meaningful fundraising needs, while also noting that the U.S. economy and consumers remained resilient despite geopolitical uncertainty. Goldman CEO David Solomon said the AI investment cycle was expanding capital requirements into infrastructure, energy and data centers, creating effects across multiple industries. Anthropic, an AI model developer, is seeking meetings with investors ahead of a potential large IPO that could take place as soon as October. However, sustaining the second quarter's equity underwriting revenue may be difficult, as JPMorgan CFO Jeremy Barnum said some activity had been pulled forward and large transactions contributed significantly, while OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company, is considering an IPO as soon as 2027 after previously targeting a fall 2026 listing.