JPMorgan earnings surge 36%

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported Thursday that it earned $2.7 billion in the second quarter as the massive success of its Wall Street trading activities outpaced its rising losses on consumer loans.

The giant bank topped by 36% the $2 billion it earned during the year-ago quarter, but earnings per share fell to 28 cents from 53 cents because of heavy issuance of new shares.

The strong earnings exceeded the predictions of most analysts, two days after Goldman Sachs also reported better-than-expected results.

Most of the good news came from JPMorgan’s investment bank, which benefited from the absence of former rivals such as Lehman Bros. and the weakness of others, such as Citigroup. The company said, for example, that it doubled its revenue from helping companies sell shares to investors. It also nearly doubled its revenue from buying and selling financial instruments.

Despite the higher earnings, JPMorgan’s shares fell 13 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $36.13.

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Appelbaum writes for the Washington Post.