Barclays expects a 'small reduction' in adjusted profit before tax, the lender said in a brief trading update provided ahead of this morning's Annual General Meeting, which is set to start at 11:00. For Ian Gordon, analyst at Investec, the above amounts to 'a small beat'. On the negative side of things, in the first quarter of 2014 Barclays' Fixed Income, Credit and Commodities (FICC) unit continued to face many of the challenges seen in the second half of 2013.Thus, income at that sub-unit of its investment banking arm registered a significant decline in year-on-year terms "reflecting difficult market conditions and a strong comparative performance for the first quarter of last year".However, "the Equities and Investment Banking businesses performed broadly in-line with last year", the lender added. As well, outside of investment banking its units were putting in a resilient performance, the lender said.Furthermore, the new strategic cost management program began to deliver material benefits across all businesses during the first quarter. That helped to offset the decrease in income seen in FICC. On May 8th Barclays will update the market on further actions to better position both the Group and the Investment Bank to deliver improved and sustainable returns "given the regulatory and operating environment".As of 13:01 shares of Barclays were trading 0.94% higher to 251.25p.AB