JPMorgan 8217 s shares up as bank posts better than expected profits

JPMorgan Chase posted today (July 15th) second-quarter profit that fell less than analysts expected.

The earnings amounted to $1.46 (£0.85) per share, compared with $1.60 a year earlier. They beat the forecasts of analysts polled by FactSet, who predicted earnings of $1.29 a share, AP reports.

JPMorgan warned investors in May to expect Wall Street’s trading slump to continue through the second quarter, saying that fixed income and equities trading revenue could drop 20 per cent from a year earlier.

The bank said today its second-quarter earnings fell nine per cent as revenue at its investment banking and mortgage businesses dropped.

The bank's net income totalled $5.6 billion in the quarter after payments to preferred shareholders, down from net income of $6.1 billion in the same period last year.

JPMorgan’s investment banking chief Daniel Pinto said in a statement there were encouraging signs toward the end of the second quarter, including an improvement in “some markets activity.”

The bank's total revenue of $25.4 billion surpassed the $23.9 billion average estimate of analysts. Its share climbed 3.93 per cent to $58.51 today at 10:58 ET in New York.

Meanwhile, US stocks fell as the Federal Reserve said valuations for smaller companies in social media and biotech industries appear “substantially stretched,” Bloomberg reports.

She added that the central bank must press on with monetary stimulus as “significant slack” remains in labour markets and inflation is still below the Fed’s goal.

The Dow Jones Internet Composite Index fell 1.11 per cent and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.25 per cent at 11:04 ET in New York. 

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