Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. probably will report a combined 3.5 percent increase in second- quarter profits, analysts estimated.

If the analysts are correct, and they’ve consistently underestimated the industry’s earnings for the past two years, the second-quarter gain would be the smallest since the same period of 2005, when combined net income fell 16 percent. The same analysts expect full-year profit of the New York-based firms to rise to a record for the fourth straight year.

(Bloomberg)