JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its guidance for net interest income and said deposits unexpectedly rose from the end of last year, sending shares of the company higher.
(Bloomberg) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its guidance for net interest income and said deposits unexpectedly rose from the end of last year, sending shares of the company higher.
NII soared 49% in the first quarter, a bigger jump than analysts expected, and the bank said it now expects the figure to clock in at about $81 billion for this year. That compares with a January forecast of $73 billion. Deposits climbed 2% from the end of last year.
JPMorgan and other big lenders are benefiting from the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes, which are aimed at taming inflation but also fuel banks’ revenue from lending businesses. Wells Fargo & Co. said Friday that its NII surged 45% in the quarter.
“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,” JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement Friday. “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.”
Shares of JPMorgan, down 3.8% this year through Thursday, rose 5.8% in early trading in New York.
Net interest income was $20.7 billion in the quarter, above analysts’ expectations. But JPMorgan said there are still “significant sources of uncertainty” in its full-year outlook. Deposits at the New York-based bank jumped to $2.38 trillion at the end of March, compared with $2.34 trillion three months earlier. The influx of client money more than offset drains from inflation and customers seeking higher-yielding alternatives.
JPMorgan boosted its pile of reserves for potentially soured loans by $1.1 billion, and the results included a $868 million hit for net investment securities losses.
Revenue from the firm’s markets operations fell, with fixed-income trading flat from a year ago and equities down 12%. Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said in February that JPMorgan’s traders faced a particularly tough comparison after an “exceptionally strong” first quarter last year, when market volatility soared on persistent inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
JPMorgan reiterated the adjusted expense guidance of about $81 billion that it gave in January. For the first quarter, non-interest expenses were $20.1 billion, below what analysts had expected.
–With assistance from Keith Gerstein.
(Updates with trading, expenses starting in eighth paragraph.)
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