Grocery bills, bank earnings, and the ties that bind Little Saigon to Vietnam

On a Monday when global markets seemed to have grown accustomed to the whiplash of geopolitical news — negotiations not happening, blockades happening, oil up only a couple percent — Marketplace spent the first part of the program on the nuts and bolts of an economy that keeps grinding along. The big Wall Street story was bank earnings. Goldman Sachs kicked things off with profits up nearly 20% in Q1 compared to a year ago, thanks partly to revenue from advising on mergers and corporate deals. But as Marketplace's Justin Ho reported, the war is cutting both ways for the banking sector.

Gerard Cassidy of RBC Capital Markets explained that increased volatility is often favorable for trading results — banks earn fees when clients trade more. Higher energy prices are also boosting revenue for energy companies, which in turn helps the banks that lend to them. Nate Tobik of Complete Bank Data noted that some energy firms are finally saying, "Hey, we have a need to do some of these bigger capital projects," which means increased loan volume for banks with energy exposure. But Tobik added that plenty of companies are being harmed by the war, either through direct exposure or simple loss of confidence. David Schiff of FTI Consulting described a ripple effect: if prices stay high and inflation remains eleva