Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Sees 86% Equities Trading Surge

Jamie Dimon and JPMorgan Chase delivered another quarter that outran expectations, and the market took notice. Shares of JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) closed at 341.10 dollars, down a modest 0.34% on the day, even after the bank posted second quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates on nearly every measure. The stock's 52 week range of 293.67 to 351.24 dollars shows just how much ground it has covered, and at a 912.16 billion dollar market cap, JPMorgan remains the largest bank in the country by a wide margin.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase and a Quarter Built on Trading Gains

On July 14, JPMorgan Chase reported adjusted earnings per share of 6.14 dollars, roughly 30 cents ahead of consensus forecasts, alongside adjusted revenue of 52.4 billion dollars that topped estimates by more than 2 billion. Every major business line set a revenue record, and the bank's return on tangible common equity hit 23%, comfortably above its own long term target. The equities trading unit stood out with an 86% jump in revenue compared to a year earlier, pulling in more than 6 billion dollars, a figure well above any of the previous four quarters.

Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum credited much of that surge to circumstances he does not expect to repeat. He pointed to a wave of major IPOs, index rebalancing activity, unusual swings in the Korean equity market and generally frenetic client activity across Asia. In his words, the environment was