JPMorgan Chase profits up

NEW YORK: JPMorgan Chase reported higher second-quarter earnings Friday, boosted by loan growth and the benefits of increased interest rates that compensated for declines in trading performance.

JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon gave an upbeat appraisal of US economic conditions as the biggest US bank by assets reported a 13.4 percent increase in profit to $7.0 billion.

Net revenues rose 4.7 percent to $26.4 billion. "We continued to post very solid results against a stable-to-improving global economic backdrop," Dimon said in a news release. "The US consumer remains healthy."

Key factors behind the earnings jump included higher net interest income due to the rising interest rate environment, as well as higher overall loans, often seen as a proxy of economic activity of firms and households.

But JPMorgan´s trading divisions suffered compared with the year-ago period, with the bank citing "sustained low volatility" in key markets. Results were boosted by a one-time benefit of $406 million with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation over the assets of Washington Mutual, which JPMorgan acquired in 2008. Shares of JPMorgan dipped 0.3 percent to $92.82 in pre-market trading.