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JPMorgan Chase profits reached a record high in the second quarter, boosted by a stronger than anticipated rebound in investment banking and a gain from its stake in credit card network Visa.
The Wall Street lender reported a 25 per cent rise in quarterly net income to $18.1bn, roughly in line with what analysts had expected.
Profits were boosted by a gain of almost $8bn after a restructuring of its stake in Visa.
“While market valuations and credit spreads seem to reflect a rather benign economic outlook, we continue to be vigilant about potential tail risks,” JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
JPMorgan’s shares were down 0.9 per cent in pre-market trading in New York.
Investment banking fees increased by 50 per cent to $2.4bn, better than JPMorgan’s guidance to investors last month and adding to hopes for a sustained rebound in dealmaking activity across Wall Street.
Dimon acknowledged that the increase was “against a low base”, with the market for mergers and acquisitions and public listings extremely subdued a year ago.
Revenues from equity trading rose 21 per cent to just under $3bn, better than what analysts expected, while fixed-income trading revenues were up 5 per cent, about in line with expectations.
The bank’s charge-off rate — the portion of its loans marked as unrecoverable — totalled $2.2bn, up almost 60 per cent from a year earlier but roughly in line with expectations.
JPMorgan is reporting earnings along with Citigroup and Wells Fargo. Goldman Sachs discloses results on Monday, followed by Morgan Stanley and Bank of America on Tuesday.