JP Morgan third quarter profit falls 84%

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest US bank by market value, said third-quarter profit fell 84 per cent on about $5

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest US bank by market value, said third-quarter profit fell 84 per cent on about $5.8 billion of writedowns, losses and credit provisions.

Net income dropped to $527 million, or 11 cents a share, from $3.4 billion, or 97 cents, a year earlier, the New York- based bank said today in a statement. The company’s shares rose as earnings beat the 18-cent loss analysts predicted on average in a survey by Bloomberg.

JPMorgan took $18.8 billion of writedowns and credit costs before today, less than a third of what Wachovia and Citigroup reported. Chief executive officer Jamie Dimon has capitalised on the market crisis by taking over Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual as they collapsed earlier this year. JPMorgan will get $25 billion from the US government under a bank rescue plan announced yesterday.

Bloomberg