Banking, finance, and taxes

Jamie Dimon Delivers J.P. Morgan Earnings Home, Discount to Book Value (JPM)

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is the first of the banks to report earnings and the results are ahead of estimates.  America’s top bank reported $1.27 EPS on $27.4 billion in revenues.  Thomson Reuters had estimates of $1.21 EPS and $25.13 billion in revenues. Net income was $2.1 billion, up 49% from the prior year’s Q2 period.

Jamie Dimon also reported that the Tier-1 capital ratio was 12.4% and the Tier-1 common ratio was 10.1%, while the bank turned in a return on equity of 20.1% and it estimated that its Basel III Tier 1 Common ratio is about 7.6%.  The bank’s provision for credit losses was down to $1.81 billion and the company claims to have hired 10,000 year-to-date.  While credit losses will remain elevated, the key note is that credit trends appear to have normalized.

Some additional highlights are that commercial banking saw record revenue and continued loan growth, even while loan demand remains weak.  The ban reduced loan loss reserves by $1.0 billion as estimated losses declined.

Shares of J.P. Morgan closed at $39.62 on Wednesday and the 52-week trading range is $35.55 to $48.36.  The early bird pre-market trading has shares up around $39.95.

One figure that investors may want to hang their hat is on the discount to book value, which was listed as 44.77 versus $43.34 one quarter ago and up from $40.99 a year earlier.

Update at 7:30 AM EST: J.P. Morgan shares are now trading up around $40.45 with about two hours until the market opens.

JON C. OGG

Credit Card Companies Are Doing Something Nuts

Credit card companies are at war. The biggest issuers are handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.

It’s possible to find cards paying unlimited 1.5%, 2%, and even more today. That’s free money for qualified borrowers, and the type of thing that would be crazy to pass up. Those rewards can add up to thousands of dollars every year in free money, and include other benefits as well.

We’ve assembled some of the best credit cards for users today.  Don’t miss these offers because they won’t be this good forever.

 

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.

AI Portfolio

Discover Our Top AI Stocks

Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.

You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.