What to make of Blackstone's earnings?

In its first earnings release as a public company, the Blackstone Group announced strong earnings. Earnings tripled. Revenues nearly did as well. Private equity was strong; revenues increased to $426.1 million in the second quarter vs. $125.6 million a year ago. Of course, the environment has changed radically. The release noted that mortgage and deal debt financing issues "served to create more challenging financing conditions starting in the last week of the quarter, which continue to date." How's that for an understatement. One of the strongest areas for Blackstone was hedge funds. The group posted a more than 400 percent increase in revenues. Perhaps this can hedge the future performance of the private equity group, which you figure will have to moderate, despite the massive fund raising still going on.  

For more:
- here's the release