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 stock rose on the news, helping to lift the overall market and send the Dow Jones industrials above 10,000 for the first time in a year. Still, JPMorgan'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, the nation's largest bank by assets, to overcome its loan losses.
Bart Narter, a senior vice president at consulting firm Celent, said JPMorgan's results showed a clear trend that "Wall Street is picking up quite smartly, while Main Street continues to suffer."
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.
Huffington Post | Grace Kiser | Posted 11.23.2009 | Business