JPMorgan 1st-quarter profit rises 12%
NEW YORK -- Strong results from JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s currency, commodities and fixed-income trading business lifted the bank's first-quarter profit 12 percent.
The largest U.S. bank by assets, JPMorgan earned $5.45 billion after payments to its preferred shareholders. That compares with a profit of $4.89 billion a year ago. On a per-share basis, the bank earned $1.45, compared with $1.28 a year earlier. Net revenue at the bank was $24.1 billion, compared with $23.2 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Other segments of JPMorgan's investment bank also had a solid quarter. Investment banking fees reached $1.76 billion, up from $317 million a year earlier. Advisory fees, which companies pay to an investment bank to help with a merger or large transaction, were up 42 percent year over year.
Wall Street analysts have 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. The bank's trading desks brought in revenue of $5.67 billion, up from $5.20 billion a year earlier.
The shares rose 97 cents to close Tuesday at $63.04.
-- The Associated Press
Wells Fargo's earnings drop to $5.5B
NEW YORK -- Wells Fargo, the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets, said Tuesday that its first-quarter earnings fell slightly from the same period a year ago. The bank got a boost from increased mortgage lending, but a key measure of its profitability declined in the quarter.
Net income after dividends to preferred shareholders fell to $5.5 billion for the January-to-March period, or $1.04 a share, compared with $5.6 billion, or $1.05 a share.
Revenue climbed to $21.3 billion from $20.6 billion a year earlier.
Gains from trading and mortgage originations were offset by lower income from other parts of its business, such as seasonally lower card fees and deposit service charges. The bank also benefited from lower tax expenses.
The bank's net interest margin, a closely watched measure of the bank's profitability, fell to 2.95 percent from 3.04 percent in the previous quarter.
Wells Fargo shares fell 40 cents to close Tuesday at $54.19.
-- The Associated Press
J.C. Penney: Sales data to beat forecast
NEW YORK -- J.C. Penney expects comparable-stores sales to top most expectations in the first quarter, but industry watchers believe it will be at a cost, and shares slid in Tuesday trading.
Figures for sales at stores open at least a year were released in a regulatory filing Tuesday, the company said, after a senior official inadvertently released sales data to a securities analyst. That data included non-public information about first-quarter same-stores sales to date, which are up about 6 percent.
J.C. Penney Co. said that based on the quarter-to-date performance and a shift in the timing of the Easter holiday from the previous year, it expects sales at stores open at least a year will rise 3.5 percent to 4.5 percent for the first quarter. That is above the 3.1 percent gain that analysts expected for the quarter, according to FactSet.
But shares slid nearly 4 percent amid worries about heavy discounting, which can drive up traffic in stores but can also eat into profit margins.
Shares of J.C. Penney, which is based in Plano, Texas, shed 34 cents to $9.06 in late-morning trading Tuesday.
-- The Associated Press
Online growth slows music sales slump
LONDON -- The decline in worldwide recorded-music revenue slowed last year as more people subscribed to online services. The proportion of sales from digital destinations equaled those from physical formats for the first time.
Global revenue for the industry, whose best-selling album was the movie soundtrack to the film Frozen, fell 0.4 percent to $14.97 billion last year, with declining downloads and physical sales, according to a group representing music labels. At the same time, music-streaming sites helped digital sales by 6.9 percent, and Japan, the world's second-largest music market, registered digital growth for the first time in five years, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said Tuesday in a statement.
The growth in digital sales was welcomed by an industry that's spent at least the past decade trying to counter drops in demand for CDs and the closing of record shops worldwide. Revenue from online music services rose 39 percent to $1.57 billion from the previous year, from subscribers and advertisers buying space on the sites. Some 41 million people pay subscriptions for music from services such as Spotify and Pandora, up from 28 million in 2013.
-- Bloomberg News
Stronger dollar aids euro area, IMF says
The strengthening dollar is helping economic growth in the euro area and Japan while taking some steam out of the U.S. recovery, the IMF said in its latest forecast.
The International Monetary Fund left its projection for global growth in 2015 unchanged from three months ago at 3.5 percent, according to its World Economic Outlook released Tuesday. Underneath the stable forecast, however, the IMF depicts a global economy being reshaped by swings in currency markets and the drop in oil prices.
The Washington-based crisis lender cut its U.S. expansion forecast by 0.5 percentage point to 3.1 percent, still the fastest among major developed economies. The Japan growth outlook increased to 1 percent from 0.6 percent, and the euro area is projected to expand 1.5 percent as weakening currencies provide a "welcome boost," the IMF said.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 04/15/2015