Nomura (NMR) Trims Global Markets Jobs In US To Reduce Costs

Per a Bloomberg article, Nomura Holdings (NYSE:NMR) has laid off about 28 sales and trading employees from its U.S. branch. The job cuts are expected to be linked with cost cutting targets to combat low volatility prevailing in the market.

Per people familiar with the matter, jobs have been trimmed in the global markets division, which consists of equities, fixed income, currencies and commodities. The decision to cut jobs has been induced by lower trading revenues as the market is experiencing low volatility despite rising interest rates.

At its investors day held in late May, the company laid down plans to cut costs while reinvesting in areas that might help it grow. Nomura seeks to simply its structure and optimize its medium term operating model across front and back office functions.

Recently, Italy’s watchdog imposed a combined fine of $2.7 million on three companies — Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) , Nomura and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA — for using two trades that led to a misrepresentation of Paschi’sfinances in the period between 2008 and 2012.

Paschi’s accounts are alleged to have been misrepresented by 13 managers at these companies who gave false information by using complex transactions dubbed Alexandria and Santorini. The three banks were ordered to pay the fines on behalf of their former employees, if needed.

Nomura’s shares have lost 19.2% in the past year against the industry’s rally of 18.9%.

Nomura currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

A couple of better-ranked stocks in the same space are E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) and Stifel Financial Corporation (NYSE:SF) . All these stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

E*TRADE’s earnings estimates were revised upward by nearly 1% for the current year, in the last 60 days. Also, its shares have jumped 77%, over the past year.

Stifel Financial’s current-year earnings estimates were revised 1% upward, over the last 60 days. Further, bank’s shares have increased 28.1%, in the past year.

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