A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business' Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.
London (CNN Business)If a recession were to arrive in the United States, there would normally be evidence of pain at America's biggest lenders. But so far, top banks aren't seeing major signs of weakness, even as they admit they're bracing for tougher times ahead.
What's happening: Results from JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup reveal that while Wall Street has been hit hard by the deep market slump, Main Street is humming along. Credit card spending still looks healthy. While banks are putting aside more money to cover bad loans, they aren't seeing significant problems yet.
"If you didn't look at anything else — you just looked at the bank numbers — you wouldn't be thinking there's a recession around the corner," Mark Conrad, a portfolio manager at Algebris Investments, told me.
