Most people expect earnings growth to moderate at the top banks. The first quarter earnings bonanza, while spectacular, just can't be sustained. Tougher comparisons, tougher markets, and more competition in the trading arena will hit a lot of firms, as will the tax on bonuses to be levied in the U.K.

Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove cut his estimate on Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to $182 from $200 a share. He says the change has nothing to do with the SEC's (SEC news) fraud charges. He says it's going to be a very bad quarter for the gilded bank. "This is one of the poorer quarters that the company has experienced and I think most of its businesses simply didn't do well, whether it's in the trading area, equity activity, activity in high-yield bonds, in the investment banking arena," Bove told CNBC.

Sandler O'Neill analyst Jeff Harte also reduced his estimates for second-quarter earnings, to $2.96 a share from $4.62 a share. That said, these stocks may well rebound from recent lows. Analysts are paring as well on other banks, including Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and a lot of asset managers. 

For more:
- here's a CNBC article

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