JPMorgan profit up 31% in second quarter

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, reported Friday a net income of 6.5 billion U.S. dollars for the second quarter of 2013, up 31 percent from a year earlier. JPMorgan reported that for the quarter, earnings per share were 1.6 dollars, compared with 1.21 dollars in the second quarter of 2012. The average estimate for its earnings was 1.45 dollars. Its revenue for the quarter was 26 billion dollars, compared with 22.9 billion dollars in the prior year. Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that the earnings reflected strong performance across the company's businesses. The loan growth across the industry continued to be soft, reflecting a cautious stance by consumers as well as many small businesses and corporations, he noted. "However, we continue to see broad-based signs that the U.S. economy is improving and we are hopeful that, as jobs are added and confidence builds, the U.S. economy will strengthen over time," Dimon said in the statement.