JPMorgan reports better-than-expected $2.1B in earnings

By
Pallavi Gogoi, USA TODAY
April 16, 2009, 11:13 PM ET
3 min read

NEW YORK -- Despite a near-death experience just six months ago, banks now seem pretty healthy. Thursday, JPMorgan Chase jpm became the third bank to report stellar first-quarter earnings.

Mortgage refinancing has picked up sharply, and robust fixed-income trading helped JPMorgan report a first-quarter profit of $2.1 billion, which although down 10% from a year earlier was better than the 25% drop expected, Thomson Reuters says. That followed Wells Fargo's wfcsurprise early announcement last week that it posted a record $3 billion profit, and this week's report by Goldman Sachs gs of its $1.7 billion profit in the first quarter.

While banks' results so far have pleased some analysts, they remain worried about the strength of the broader economy. "Fixed-income trading and refinancing were strong, but I'd like to see GDP grow, and the unemployment pace slow," says Jason Goldberg at Barclays Capital.

Since Wells Fargo surprised investors on April 9, bank stocks have rallied sharply, with Wells Fargo up 30%, JPMorgan up 22% and Goldman up 6%. The big question now is if Citigroup and Bank of America also will do better than expected. Today, Citi reports its first-quarter earnings, and CEO Vikram Pandit has set expectations high, announcing in March that the bank made a profit in the first two months of 2009. Its stock is up 48% since last week. BofA, which reports next week, is up 46%.

A closer look at each bank's earnings reveals the pockets of strength and weakness so far:

•JPMorgan. The Good: Bond trading and underwriting brought in $8.3 billion, and the Washington Mutual acquisition helped attract more deposits, which were up 62%.

The Bad: The credit card business lost money for the second quarter in a row, and losses could accelerate as defaults grow. Commercial real estate loan losses could also pick up. The bank has increased its loan loss provision by $4.2 billion to $28 billion.

•Goldman Sachs. The Good: Revenue from fixed-income, currency and commodities trading was a record $6.6 billion.

The Bad: If mergers and acquisitions or new securities issuance don't pick up, profit could be hurt as new growth is harder to come by.

•Wells Fargo. The Good: There were $100 billion in mortgage originations, double the rate of the previous quarter, and there's a strong pipeline for the current quarter. The Bad: Buying Wachovia Bank brought in billions of dollars in questionable loans. Wells Fargo today has a big portfolio of mortgages in California and Florida, two states with some of the highest home foreclosure rates.