JPMorgan 2Q profit jumps 36 pct, topping forecasts

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — JPMorgan Chase & Co. posted a 36 percent jump in second-quarter profit Thursday, easily surpassing analysts’ expectations, as strength in investment banking offset higher credit losses.

JPMorgan, the second big bank to report stronger earnings this week after Goldman Sachs Group Inc., earned $2.72 billion, up from $2 billion a year earlier. Revenues soared 39 percent to $25.62 billion.

Results were driven by record investment banking fees and revenue in its bond business, much like Goldman Sachs.

“Both JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were well positioned going into the crisis, and they are going to continue to pull ahead and dominate the sector,” said Len Blum, managing partner at investment bank Westwood Capital.

At JPMorgan’s investment bank, revenue jumped 33 percent to $7.3 billion and profits more than tripled to $1.5 billion.

Those gains were partly offset by higher losses in consumer lending and credit cards. The bank said it set aside $9.7 billion for credit losses in the quarter, up from $4.29 billion a year earlier but down from the first quarter’s $10 billion.

CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that the company expects credit costs to remain high “for the foreseeable future.”

The profit came despite a $1.1 billion charge, or 27 cents a share, as JPMorgan repaid $25 billion in loans it received from the government as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The bank was also hit by a 10-cents-a-share FDIC special assessment penalty.

Earnings per share fell to 28 cents from 53 cents as the company had more stock outstanding than a year ago.

Despite the higher earnings, JPMorgan’s shares fell 52 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $35.74 in early afternoon trading. Financial shares were broadly lower as a major lender to small businesses, CIT Group Inc., teetered on the edge of bankruptcy after talks with regulators about a rescue broke down late Wednesday.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast earnings of 4 cents per share on revenue of $25.89 billion.

During the most recent quarter, JPMorgan’s retail banking unit earned $15 million, a decrease of $488 million, or 97 percent, from the prior year. That business was affected by a higher provision for credit losses and higher noninterest expenses, which were offset partially by more revenue from last year’s acquisition of the thrift Washington Mutual Inc.

Average deposits rose 62.7 percent to $348.1 billion from a year ago, and 0.7 percent from the first quarter.

The WaMu acquisition also helped drive JPMorgan’s commercial banking unit’s income up 4 percent to $368 million.

JPMorgan’s credit card division did poorly, however, because of surging defaults that have afflicted all credit card issuers. It posted a loss of $672 million compared with a profit of $250 million last year.

Asset management and Treasury and securities services also did worse in the second quarter than in the same period last year.

JPMorgan said it extended $150 billion in new credit to consumers, corporations, small businesses, municipalities and non-profits and has approved 138,000 trial mortgage modifications in the quarter, bringing total foreclosures prevented since 2007 to 565,000.

JPMorgan was among 19 major banks that underwent the government’s “stress tests” in May to determine how banks would fair if economic conditions worsened. Unlike some of its competitors, JPMorgan was told it didn’t need to raise additional capital.