Given that Jefferies (JEF) reports its quarterly results just ahead of when leading financial institutions kick off the earnings season, its report is commonly viewed as a gauge for the health of the group.
Over the past several quarters, the company's blowout results have indeed foreshadowed a stream of impressive reports from the likes of Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).
This morning, though, the script is telling a different story.