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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned that the US economy was facing “substantial turbulence” as market Tumult boosted Wall Street Bank’s trading business in early 2025.
On Friday, the US’s biggest lender said its first quarter net profit rose 9% from the previous year to $14.6 billion, analysts expected. Stocks rose 2.6% in pre-market trading.
“The economy faces considerable turbulence (including geopolitics), potential positives of tax reform and deregulation, tariffs and “trade wars”, continuous expansion of stickiness, high financial obstacles, and rather potential negatives of high asset prices and instability.”
“As always, we want the best, but we’ll prepare our company for a wide range of scenarios.”
The warning from Dimon, one of Wall Street’s most influential voices, comes at a time of sharp volatility in US financial markets, caused by President Trump’s tariffs, including China. Trump cited a television interview earlier this week. In it, Dimon said the US was probably heading towards a recession when explaining his decision to suspend most of his sweeping tariffs on imports.
Still, the market turmoil of the early months of the Trump administration is well suited to JPMorgan’s trading business.
Stock trading is a standout unit for JPMorgan, with revenues rising to $3.8 billion, up 48% from the previous year.
Bond trading also rose 8% to $5.8 billion. Investment bank fees rose 12% year-on-year to $2.2 billion. This is a more modest increase than the 10-year-old rise that JPMorgan predicted in mid-February.
Dimon said investment banking clients have been “more cautious amid the increasing volatility of the market.”
The bank’s charging rate for the quarter (a portion of loans marked irreparable) was $2.3 billion, up 19% from the previous year. Credit quality has deteriorated after a record low lending loss period from government stimulus programmes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
JPMorgan set aside $3.3 billion due to potential loan losses, 75% more than a year ago.
