JPMorgan Chase & Co beat Wall Street estimates for quarterly profit by a wide margin on Tuesday, underpinned by strength in bond trading and underwriting.
Revenue at three of the bank’s four main businesses rose, allaying concerns about the impact of an escalating U.S.-China trade war, slowing global growth and low interest rates.
“The consumer remains healthy with growth in wages and spending, combined with strong balance sheets and low unemployment levels,” chief executive officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
The only business to report a fall in revenue was commercial banking, where lower interest rates hampered results.
Overall, revenue rose 8% to $30.06 billion, well above the average analyst estimate of $28.49 billion on the back of better-than-expected results from the bank’s bond trading business, where revenue rose 25%. Goldman Sachs Group Inc also reported a rise in revenue from the business.
Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski described JPMorgan’s results as “solid,” noting that trading and investment banking results were strong, credit metrics held up well and that the bank managed to produce higher interest income even as rates declined. “Nothing not to like,” Kotowski wrote in a note.
Strength in bond trading helped the bank offset weakness in equity trading, which it blamed on lower derivative trading and M&A advisory fees.
The bank’s net income for the quarter ended Sept. 30 was $9.08 billion, or $2.68 per share, compared with $8.38 billion, or $2.34 per share, a year ago.
Analysts on average had expected the bank to earn $2.45 per share, according to Refinitiv data.