The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition in the biggest flurry of bank earnings during the second quarter reporting season, three of the big banks delivered results that surpassed expectations. The Globe's David Berman writes Royal Bank of Canada, TD and CIBC beat analysts' earnings estimates. RBC reported net income of $2.5-billion, or $1.68 a share, up 14 per cent over last year. The bank's powerful capital-markets unit played a key role. As companies feed into a frenzy for equity and debt issues, RBC scored large underwriting and advisory fees, driving capital-markets earnings to $625-million, up 23 per cent over last year. RBC is a major capital-markets player in the United States. "This strength will offset weakness in Canada, enabling the segment to deliver strong earnings growth in fiscal 2015," said National Bank analyst Peter Routledge in a note. RBC executives sounded upbeat the economy would persevere. "Notwithstanding the heightened media focus, we believe that the Canadian housing market generally continues to be supported by strong trends in employment, household income and population growth," said Dave McKay, RBC's chief executive officer, in a call with analysts.