The financial sector appears to be doing well in this uncertain economy. Big banks reported last week that they were raking it in during Q2, especially when it came to trading desk fees (thanks to the strong stock market) and investment banking (thanks to the big surge in IPOs and all of the bonds that companies have been issuing to build out artificial intelligence infrastructure).Over the next couple of weeks, several regional lenders are going to report earnings, too. Those should show less about what’s happening in the world of investment banking and trading and more about what’s happening in the real economy.Regional banks aren’t the small, community banks that you might see on the corner in a tiny town. But they aren’t sprawling, multinational empires, either, said Julie Hill at the University of Wyoming.“They’re basically larger banks that focus on the traditional banking model — that’s borrowing money from people, in the form of deposits, and lending it out as loans either to businesses or consumers,” she said. Most of regional banks’ revenue comes from that kind of traditional banking, Hill said. “So typically, what you want to see for regional banks is you want to see strong loan demand, and you want to see low losses on loans.”Right now, loan demand is up. Gerard Cassidy with RBC Capital Markets said that’s partly because of all of the AI spending that’s been happening this year. “So for example, a bank might have a relationship with cement companies that are being hired to build the foundations for data centers or the HVAC installers,” he said. But Cassidy added that loan demand is also coming from all kinds of other industries, including from healthcare companies, trucking companies, and auto dealers. Midsized businesses, in particular, are demanding credit, said Tom Collins, senior partner at consulting company West Monroe.“These would be businesses that would range from manufacturing companies to service companies — kind of the bread and butter of the economy,” he said. Collins noted that many are borrowing because they’re realizing that interest rates probably aren’t going lower any time soon. But many are also feeling optimistic, and they feel comfortable borrowing, he said. Many consumers do, as well, said Stephen Biggar, director of product strategy at Argus Research. That’s despite facing higher interest rates and higher gas prices.“I think it’s really the jobs economy. So to the extent that unemployment remains down, that means consumers are going to feel reasonably good about taking out that loan,” he said. Biggar added that delinquencies have been falling, which means banks are going to feel more comfortable making loans.