JP Morgan beats quarterly earnings forecasts

Shares in JP Morgan Chase & Co climbed in pre-market trading on Tuesday, as the US banking giant reported an increase in second quarter profit.

The firm said its profit in the second three months of 2015 rose 5.2% year-on-year to $6.29bn, or $1.54 a share, exceeding expectations calling for earnings of $1.44 a share.

However, increasing volatility in the markets saw revenue decline 3.2% year-on-year to $24.53bn, slightly ahead of analysts’ estimate of $24.49bn, while trading revenue dropped 8.9% to $4.51bn.

JP Morgan said costs fell 6% to $14.5bn, less than two months after the Wall Street Journal reported that the bank had begun to cut over 5,000 jobs in a bid to keep expenses under control.

Speaking at an investors conference in May, group chief executive James Dimon admitted trading results were “a little bit worse” than in the previous quarter.

However, Dimon added that he spent “no time worrying about that" as short-term fluctuations in trading results can often fall outside a bank’s control.

JP Morgan shares were up 0.75% in pre-market trading at 12:46 on Tuesday.