JPMorgan Earnings: Bank Posts $3.6 Billion Profit, Despite Big Loan Losses
NEW YORK — JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported strong third-quarter earnings Wednesday as its thriving investment banking business more than offset rising loan losses that the bank warned would continue for the foreseeable future. JPMorgan, the first of the big banks to report earnings for the July-September period, reported a $3.59 billion profit but also said it roughly doubled the amount of money it set aside for failed home and credit card loans in the quarter. The bank's earnings cheered investors, who sent JPMorgan stock and the overall market higher. Still, the bank's performance shouldn't be taken as a forecast for how well other banks did during the quarter. Many financial companies don't have such big investment banking operations, which includes trading of stocks and bonds and allowed JPMorgan to overcome its loan losses. Banks including JPMorgan have predicted for some time that their loan losses would keep rising. And in JPMorgan's earnings statement, CEO Jamie Dimon confirmed that this trend continues. "Credit costs remain high and are expected to stay elevated for the foreseeable future in the consumer lending and card services loan portfolios," Dimon said.
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First Posted: 10-12-09 01:29 PM | Updated: 10-12-09 01:36 PM