JPMorgan Chase & Co's JPM.N first-quarter profit beat Wall Street estimates as higher interest income offset weakness in dealmaking, and the biggest U.S. lender remained resilient through the banking crisis in March.
The lender's shares jumped 6 per cent as its performance underscored how big banks - with their diversified businesses and trillions of dollars in assets - withstood the crisis better than regional banks.
Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the U.S. consumer and the economy remain robust but cautioned that the banking crisis could turn lenders more conservative and impact consumer spending.
"The U.S. economy continues to be on generally healthy footings — consumers are still spending and have strong balance sheets, and businesses are in good shape," Dimon said.
"However, the storm clouds that we have been monitoring for the past year remain on the horizon, and the banking industry turmoil adds to these risks."
Silicon Valley Bank SIVB.O and Signature Bank SBNY.O failed last month after depositors yanked their funds, marking the second and third largest collapses in U.S. history.
JPMorgan set aside loan loss provisions of US$2.3 billion, up 56 per cent from last year. It reported a 52 per cent increase in profit to US$12.62 billion, or US$4.10 per share, in the three months ended Mar. 31.
Excluding one-time costs, the bank earned US$4.32 per share, ahead of analysts' average expectation of US$3.41 per share, according to Refinitiv IBES data.
"JPM is one of those household names in a sector that we were the most concerned about reporting better than expected earnings and that is certainly putting a bid in the stock and a bid in the market," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth in Boston.
FED BOOST
Revenue at the lender's consumer and community banking unit jumped 80 per cent to US$5.2 billion on the back of higher interest rates. The Federal Reserve raised rates by a quarter of a percentage point last month.
Net interest income, a measure of how much it earns from lending, surged 49 per cent to US$20.8 billion. The lender increased its forecast for NII to US$81 billion this year, excluding profits from markets, from an earlier US$74 billion.
However, its Wall Street investment banking business remained a sore point. Revenue at the unit fell 24 per cent, weighed down by a tepid market for mergers, acquisitions and stock sales. Equity trading revenue slid 12 per cent. Fixed income trading revenue was flat.
Overall revenue jumped 25 per cent jump to US$38.3 billion.
Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru and Nupur Anand in New York and Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty
