JPMorgan profit rises 11%

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Tuesday that its income rose 11 percent in the first quarter, helped by strong results in the bank’s currency, commodities and fixed-income trading business.

The largest U.S. bank by assets earned $5.45 billion after payments to its preferred shareholders. That compares to a profit of $4.89 billion a year earlier. On a per-share basis, the bank earned $1.45, compared with $1.28 a year earlier.

The average estimate of financial analysts surveyed by FactSet was $1.39 per share, which typically exclude one-time items. Net revenue at the bank was $24.1 billion, compared with $23.2 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Wall Street analysts widely expected banks to report higher trading revenue this quarter, and JPMorgan met that expectation. Net revenue at the bank’s corporate and investment bank rose 8 percent to $9.58 billion, helped by volatility in currency and fixed income markets. Higher volatility typically means more commissions for banks because investors trade more. Trading revenue was $5.67 billion, up from $5.20 billion a year earlier.

The bank’s consumer bank division, which includes Chase, its credit cards, mortgages and auto loans, also reported gains. Revenue in that unit rose to $10.7 billion from $10.5 billion.

Chase originated $24.7 billion in mortgages in a quarter, a jump from $17 billion the same period a year earlier. The rise in mortgage volume is notable since winter is typically a slow time for home buying.

JPMorgan also had $687 million in pre-tax charges for legal expenses in the quarter.