Challenges remained in Thomson Reuters’ markets division in Q2, as the unit’s revenue was down 4 percent while its profits dropped 25 percent (though the company pointed out that excluding currency changes, the decline was more like 15 percent). That served as a drag on Thomson Reuters’ earnings generally this past quarter. The declines stemmed from residual weakness in the financial industry, which Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) primarily caters to. Despite the negative numbers, in a statement, CEO Tom Glocer cited improving trends for the company overall in Q3 and said he expected a return to revenue growth in Q3. The Markets division, which includes media, sales & trading, investment & advisory and enterprise, is the largest part of the company.

Looking specifically at the media segment within the markets division, Q2 revenues fell 3 percent, which was attributed to weakness in the agency business. On the plus side, net sales in the quarter turned positive thanks to a rekindling of its news services relationship with CNN.

Still, as weak as the advertising recovery is, it helped boost revenues for the company’s consumer business by double-digits. The additional ad revenues were at least partly driven by the introduction of several new mobile products, including NewsPro for the iPad during the quarter.

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