JPMorgan Chase reported that its fourth-quarter profits rose 9% on an adjusted basis, as the bank said it continued to benefit broadly from strength across both its consumer and investment banking units.
The bank said it earned $13.03 billion, or $4.63 a share, in the quarter. JPMorgan also said results included a one-time hit of 60 cents per share tied to its purchase of the Apple Card credit card portfolio from Goldman Sachs.
JPMorgan said the hit reflected the way it accounted for the acquisition, adding $2.2 billion in loan-loss reserves to its balance sheet to cover the risk of taking on the Apple Card portfolio. Excluding the loan-loss reserves, the bank said it earned a profit of $5.23 a share.
Analysts expected $4.85 per share, according to FactSet, though some analysts did not update their forecasts after JPMorgan bought the Apple Card portfolio last week. JPMorgan said its revenues were $45.8 billion for the quarter, up 7% from a year earlier.
In a statement, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the bank remained optimistic about the overall health of the U.S. economy. “While labor markets have softened, conditions do not appear to be worsening,” Dimon said, adding that “Meanwhile, consumers continue to spend, and businesses generally remain healthy.” He said these conditions could persist for some time, “particularly with ongoing fiscal stimulus, the benefits of deregulation and the Fed’s recent monetary policy.”
The bank’s stock moved lower in early trading after the results. Shares of the New York-based company dipped about 3% in morning trading, to $314.74.
The report came at the start of the bank earnings season this week, with JPMorgan and The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. kicking off the session. Investors were also watching Washington as attention split between Wall Street performance and developments around credit card regulation and the Federal Reserve.
AP reported that President Donald Trump said he would like to cap credit card interest rates at 10% and supports bills in Congress to do so. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also said Sunday that the Department of Justice served the central bank with subpoenas and threatened it with a criminal indictment over his testimony this summer about the Fed’s building renovations, which AP described as an unprecedented escalation in Trump’s battle with the Fed.