Consultant Larry Tabb is among the most astute observers of Wall Street, especially at that critical nexus where trading meets technology. In a recent commentary, he notes that fixed-income for the past few years has generated a big share of industry profits. For Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, fixed-income had accounted for between 50 and 60 percent of their global trading profits. But now that's all changed, and Tabb wonders (as we have over the past year) how banks can make up for that revenue drop off. It's doubtful the subprime-backed business--that once glorious gravy train--will come bounding back anytime soon. So what's the next big thing? What's the Internet to the desktop-bound computing model? I am not sure anyone knows at this point. It seems like it would have to be derivatives-based, but who really knows?   

For more:
- here's the commentary on Wall Street & Technology

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