October 15, 2015/Bloomberg

Equities traders, be kind to your brethren on the fixed-income desk: Their year started with such promise and is headed for a sour ending.

Traders of bonds, currencies and commodities are facing a shrinking year-end bonus pool after their revenue in the first nine months slumped 11 percent to $32 billion at the four biggest U.S. investment banks, according to results announced by the firms this week. That business started the year on decent footing, stumbled in the first half and then tumbled in the third quarter. Meantime, equities revenue surged 18 percent to $16.7 billion.

While that leaves equities traders in a relatively better position, the bond bust isn’t good for anyone working in markets divisions, because it still puts pressure on banks to push down compensation and consider other cost-saving measures. Investment banks typically limit the amount of revenue spent on employees to roughly 37 percent, based on pay data from the past two years, according to Jessica Lee of recruitment firm Options Group. The biggest U.S. firms aren’t likely to carve out much more for their workforce.