Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Brian Foran – Goldman Sachs.
Brian Foran – Goldman Sachs
I apologize, I joined late and so if I missed this in the prepared remarks, but in the past you’ve talked about the market share gains in PFS not translating to revenue because a lot of clients were sitting in cash. Are you still experiencing the same level of market share gains? Either way, are the market share gains over the past nine months still sitting in cash or is that a potential revenue tailwind in the future?
Steven L. Fradkin
Brian, I would just [inaudible] with the term market share gains only because our general counsel would not like that term, market share is very hard to gain. But, I think I would instead say momentum and very good performance in terms of winning but I can’t technically prove to you market share. With that caveat I would say I guess two observations: one, our new business in PFS continues to be strong and we feel very good about that; and on the margin I think as the S&P 500 rose in the quarter and as you saw through a variety of metrics that we talked about, there was an appetite to get back in the markets.
I’ll caveat that by saying I think there are still some scars out there and people have been wounded and so cash is still if you will a desirable commodity. But, I’d say on the margin it was an improvement from a quarter ago period in terms of moving in to the markets.
Operator
Your next question comes from Michael Mayo – Calyon Securities (USA), Inc.
Michael Mayo – Calyon Securities (USA), Inc.
The margin and spread revenues, it’s down for you, it’s down for all the trust banks, can you just give us some context of what’s driving that and where you think the spread revenues go? You’re kind of retracing from the steps you took over the past couple of years in terms of NII.
Steven L. Fradkin
Well, I think you know we have a long standing and conservative philosophy vis-à-vis our securities portfolio. I think it’s far to say as exemplified by recent results relative to the industry that that philosophy on average over time has served us very, very well. We haven’t changed that philosophy and we are not seeking additional risk in our investment portfolio in a quest for higher yield. On the securities portfolio, we’re continuing to purchase the highest quality securities, agency debentures, agency mortgages, government guaranteed debt and on average these assets have a repricing characteristic for us of less than 90 days.
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