JP Morgan’s Profit Jumps As Business Booms On Wall Street, Main Street
CEO Jamie Diamon says economy remains ‘resilient’ but warns of uncertainty
The Wall Street side of JPMorgan’s business continued to rake in money in the latest quarter. SEEGER GRAY/WSJ
- JPMorgan Chase’s profit increased by 12%, driven by a 25% rise in revenue from trading and its markets businesses and a 16% jump in investment banking fees.View more
JPMorgan Chase JPM -1.06%decrease; red down pointing triangle reported a 12% jump in profit that beat expectations, reaping the benefits of a surge in trading and dealmaking on Wall Street and steady consumer spending on Main Street.
Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, long known for sounding the alarm on risks he sees in the economy, cautioned that there seems to be a “heightened degree of uncertainty stemming from complex geopolitical conditions, tariffs and trade uncertainty, elevated asset prices and the risk of sticky inflation.”
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The bank said its credit losses for the third quarter were $3.4 billion, the highest since the first half of 2020. Still, Dimon said the U.S. economy remained resilient despite some “signs of softening, particularly in job growth.”
In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Dimon said that the economic impact of tariffs “has been less than people expected, including us,” though he added that the final outcome of negotiations has yet to be seen.
The Wall Street side of JPMorgan’s business continued to rake in money in the third quarter as traders navigated the uncertainty around global trade sparked by President Trump’s trade war. Revenue from trading and its markets businesses rose 25%.
Executives have also been warming up to the new climate under Trump and feeling more confident about pursuing mergers and taking companies public. JPMorgan said its investment banking fees jumped 16% in the quarter from a year ago. Goldman Sachs and Citigroup also said Tuesday that investment banking fees and trading revenue surged in the third quarter.
JPMorgan has helped underwrite a number of the year’s biggest deals, including Circle’s and Figma’s stock-market debuts and Sycamore Partners’ take-private acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance.
On Main Street, JPMorgan’s sprawling consumer banking arm also brought in more revenue as consumers continued to spend. Debit- and credit-card spending rose 9%. Jeremy Barnum, JPMorgan’s chief financial officer, said Tuesday that 2025 has been “the best year ever” for new account acquisitions for its Chase Sapphire credit-card franchise, aimed at affluent customers.
Revolving balances on credit cards also climbed. But in the short term, it boosted the bank’s profit from lending, while delinquencies declined.
Barnum said the bank’s exposure to Tricolor, an auto lending company that collapsed in September amid allegations of fraud and accounting impropriety, had led to $170 million in charge-offs.
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“It’s not our finest moment,” Dimon said.
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Tricolor’s failure has also raised concerns that lower-income consumers are struggling to afford payments as wages stagnate and unemployment ticks higher. Dimon said on Tuesday that while the losses from consumer and wholesale banking were worse in the quarter, “they really just returned to what we considered normal.” But he added “these are early signs there might be some excess” in financial markets.
JPMorgan’s net income for the quarter was $14.39 billion, topping the $13.54 billion analysts expected. Earnings per share were $5.07, versus the $4.85 per share analysts expected.
Total revenue rose 9% to $46.43 billion, also beating analysts’ expectations.
Write to Alexander Saeedy at alexander.saeedy@wsj.com
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