Wall Street compensation hit record in 2010: WSJ (by Lisa Twaronite)

TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Total compensation and benefits at publicly traded Wall Street banks and securities firms hit a record of $135 billion in 2010, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal published on the newspaper's website Wednesday. The total was up 5.7% from $128 billion in combined compensation and benefits by the same companies in 2009, fueled by a revenue rebound as the financial crisis receded, the report said. At 25 large financial firms that reported full-year results, revenue rose to a record high $417 billion, even though last year's 1% increase was just a fraction of the industry's revenue jolt from 2008 to 2009 as trading and investment banking picked up after the crisis.