JPMorgan quarterly profit falls 6.7%

[NEW YORK] JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest US bank by assets, reported a 6.7 per cent drop in quarterly profit as costs to cover possible sour loans to troubled shale oil companies rose and revenue from trading and investment banking declined.

The bank's net income fell to US$5.52 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, from US$5.91 billion a year earlier. On a per-share basis, earnings fell to US$1.35 from US$1.45.

Analysts had expected earnings of US$1.26 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the results reported on Wednesday were comparable. JPMorgan is the first US bank to report results since the Federal Reserve's decision in December to raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, the first hike in nearly a decade.

Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co, the second and third-biggest US banks, report on Thursday.

REUTERS