Wall Street’s rookies socked by first crisis

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NO THUMBS UP HERE Younger traders are worried about weathering the volatility.

Jean-Philippe Aractingi has never seen anything like this. Markets plunge, then soar, then plunge again, not in days or weeks but in minutes and even seconds. In recent weeks, three of Wall Street’s longtime titans—Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts—have each seen their reputations sullied. Meanwhile, armies of professional and amateur investors are bolting for the exits.

For scrubs like Mr. Aractingi, a 25-year-old associate trader at BNP Paribas in midtown, the world has suddenly gone haywire, and his once-satisfying days at the office have become grueling marathons.

“It’s crazy,” said Mr. Aractingi, who notes that when the markets go into free fall, all conversation with colleagues ceases because no one has the time or energy to hear about other people’s problems. “There is so much stress,” he said.

All across Wall Street, analysts, traders and bankers in their 20s find themselves facing something entirely new to them—a full-blown market crisis. With no experience of their own to fall back on, they are seeking advice from industry veterans and keeping their heads down. They are trying to stay focused and not worry about their bonuses—and jobs.

“This is a big wake-up call for a lot of young people,” said Nicholas Colas, research director at securities firm BNY Jaywalk and a veteran of 20 years on Wall Street.

Until now, most of the Street’s youngest employees have known nothing but boundless prosperity. Over the last four years, Wall Street firms have coined nearly $100 billion in pretax profits and have showered an unprecedented $76 billion in bonuses on their New York employees alone. In the period, 25,000 financial jobs have been added there, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.