LONDON -- Global banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC offered a downbeat outlook for the U.S. mortgage market, saying a slight improvement in the pace of souring loans isn't likely to last.

HSBC, which was among the first banks to signal the subprime-mortgage troubles that set off the financial crisis, said its U.S. consumer-finance operation had seen a slight slowdown in the deterioration of its mortgage loans and other secured loans in the first quarter -- a shift executives attributed in part to U.S. tax rebates and the bank's lending pullback in those areas.

The improvement, together with a jump in trading income, a strong performance in Asia and a $6.6 billion gain on the falling value of the bank's own debt, helped HSBC earn a pretax profit "well ahead" of the same period last year, the bank said in a trading update.

HSBC's top executives, though, said U.S. loan delinquencies often experience a seasonal dip in the first quarter and could pick up again toward year's end.

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