Business & Markets
JPMorgan posts first profit miss since 2023 as trading desks diverge
Net income still rose 6% from a year earlier. A $658 million securities loss reduced reported earnings, while equity-trading revenue surged and fixed-income trading fell.
Executive summary
- A rare consensus miss: JPMorgan reported third-quarter net income of $15.3 billion, or $5.57 a diluted share, up 6% and 10% respectively from a year earlier. AP and Reuters both reported that earnings fell short of analyst expectations; Reuters said it was the first such miss since the fourth quarter of 2023. The outlets cited different consensus estimates.[1][2][3]
- Trading results split: Markets revenue rose 15% year over year, led by a 49% gain in equities, while fixed-income markets revenue fell 4%. Investment-banking fees rose 14% from a year earlier but declined 8% from the second quarter.[1][3]
- A securities loss lowered reported results: JPMorgan recorded $658 million in net investment-securities losses before tax. The company said net income would have been $15.8 billion and diluted earnings $5.75 excluding the item; those are company-defined non-GAAP measures, not the reported results.[1]
JPMorgan Chase reported $15.3 billion in third-quarter net income on Tuesday, but its $5.57 in diluted earnings per share came in below analyst forecasts, according to AP and Reuters. Reuters said it was the largest U.S. bank’s first profit miss since the fourth quarter of 2023. The bank’s net income nevertheless increased 6% from a year earlier, and diluted earnings per share rose 10%.[1][2][3]
The reported figure includes a $658 million pre-tax loss on investment securities, which JPMorgan identified as a significant item. Excluding it, the bank reported net income of $15.8 billion and diluted earnings of $5.75 per share. Those adjusted figures are management’s non-GAAP presentation; the $15.3 billion and $5.57 figures are the reported results. AP and Reuters cited different analyst-consensus estimates, but both reported that the result missed expectations.[1][2][3]
The bank’s markets division generated $10.3 billion in revenue, up 15% year over year. Equity-markets revenue jumped 49%, while fixed-income-markets revenue declined 4%. Investment-banking fees rose 14% from the year-earlier quarter but fell 8% from the second quarter, according to JPMorgan’s filing and Reuters. The figures show a divergence within the trading business and a sequential slowdown in deal fees; they do not establish that all client activity weakened.[1][3]
Reuters reported that executives tied the softer deal and bond-trading activity to market volatility and an uncertain economic outlook. Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum told reporters the investment-banking pipeline remained strong and that some transactions could be delayed rather than canceled, while cautioning it was too early to know. That outlook is management’s assessment, not a confirmed schedule of future deals.[3]
JPMorgan said average loans were up 10% from a year earlier and net interest income excluding markets rose 6% from the prior quarter to $24.7 billion. Reuters reported that the bank raised its full-year net-interest-income outlook. Those results complicate a reading of the earnings miss as a broad deterioration: lending and equities provided support even as fixed-income trading and the quarter-to-quarter pace of investment-banking fees softened.[1][3]