JPMorgan Chase opened the third-quarter earnings season on Tuesday morning, October 13. Net income: $15.3 billion, $5.57 a share - up 6% and 10% respectively from the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding a one-time loss on securities sales, profit was $15.8 billion, $5.75 a share.
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What was reported
| Q3 2026 | Q3 2025 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net revenue (managed basis) | 50,907 | 47,120 | +8% |
| Net interest income | 27,036 | 23,966 | +13% |
| Noninterest revenue | 23,136 | 22,461 | +3% |
| Expenses | 27,295 | 24,281 | +12% |
| Provision for credit losses | 2,743 | 3,403 | -19% |
| Net income | 15,305 | 14,393 | +6% |
| Diluted earnings per share (dollars) | 5.57 | 5.07 | +10% |
| Return on tangible common equity | 20% | 20% | |
| CET1 capital ratio | 13.9% | 14.8% | -0.9 pts |
In millions of dollars, except per-share figures and ratios. Source: the bank's earnings release and financial supplement, October 13, 2026.
Where the money was made
Trading brought in $10.3 billion, up 15%, and almost all of the growth came from equities: equity trading revenue jumped 49% to $4.95 billion, while trading in bonds, currencies and commodities fell 4% to $5.37 billion.
Investment banking fees rose 13% to $2.96 billion. Asset and wealth management brought in $6.9 billion, up 14%, and assets under management reached $5.21 trillion. The core banking business grew as well: net interest income excluding trading activity rose 6% to $24.7 billion.
The comparison with the previous quarter is misleading
Versus the second quarter, net income fell 28% and revenue fell 13%. But the second quarter included a one-time gain of $4.6 billion on Visa shares, plus another billion dollars of gains on equity investments. Without these two, most of the decline disappears - so the relevant comparison is the same quarter a year earlier.
And the unusual item in the current quarter runs the other way: a loss of $658 million on securities sales in the Corporate segment, $498 million after tax, or 18 cents a share. Because of it, the segment swung from a profit of $825 million a year ago to a loss of $455 million.
Credit
The provision for credit losses fell 19% to $2.74 billion, and net charge-offs fell 15% to $2.20 billion. The bank still added to its credit reserves, by $539 million, but less than the $810 million a year ago. The full-year guidance for the card net charge-off rate remained about 3.2%.
Capital, and the buyback
This is where the report's most notable change sits. The buyback fell to $1.06 billion in the quarter, from $6.70 billion in the second quarter and $8.32 billion a year ago. The CET1 ratio fell to 13.9%, from 14.2% in the previous quarter. At the same time, the quarterly dividend was raised 10%, to $1.65 a share, and a new $50 billion buyback authorization took effect on July 1.
CEO Jamie Dimon explained it in one sentence: in keeping with the bank's order of priorities, buybacks were scaled back this quarter. He said all lines of business performed well, that investing in the business comes before buybacks, and that the bank is prepared for the risks he lists - deficits, stubborn inflation, rising rates and geopolitics.
The outlook
According to the analyst presentation, the outlook for the fourth quarter implies net interest income of about $106.2 billion for the full year 2026, versus about $105.5 billion in the guidance given in July, and adjusted expenses of about $108.6 billion, versus about $107.5 billion. For 2027 the bank presented a preliminary base-case scenario of about $107 billion in net interest income excluding trading activity.
Versus expectations, and the stock
According to the Bloomberg forecast published by Yahoo Finance, analysts expected earnings of $5.92 a share and revenue of $51.4 billion. Reported earnings, even excluding the one-time item, came in below that, and revenue was lower by about half a billion dollars.
The stock opened up 1.7% on the day of the report and reversed during the session: it closed at $331.43, down 0.86%. From the start of the year through the day of the report, the stock had risen about 3%.
הזווית שלי
דעה אישית של אילן אברמוב - לא ייעוץ ולא המלצה
What interests me in this report is not the profit, but the decision about what to do with it. A bank that earns $15 billion in a quarter, with a capital ratio of almost 14%, chose to buy back a sixth of what it bought in the previous quarter. And Dimon says explicitly why: first investment in the business, and only then returning capital.
There are two ways to read this. One, the bank sees opportunities to extend credit and grow, which is a better use of capital. Two, Dimon lists risks again and again - interest rates, inflation, deficits - and a cautious bank keeps a cushion. Both readings fit the same numbers, and the market, which started the day up and ended it down, apparently did not decide between them.
(To be clear: this is my personal opinion only. Nothing here is a recommendation to take any action, and there is no forecast here of the price of any security.)
Ilan Abramov, the author, or anyone on his behalf may hold some of the securities or funds mentioned in this article.
