JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon called for more collaboration between political leaders in Washington, D.C. and the business community.
“As we head into 2019, we urge our country’s leaders to strike a collaborative, constructive tone, which would reinforce already-strong consumer and business sentiment,” he said in a statement, “Businesses, government and communities need to work together to solve problems and help strengthen the economy for the benefit of everyone.”
Dimon’s comments came with the bank’s Q4 earnings announcement. JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.98, missing analysts’ forecasts for $2.21.
Managed revenue for the fourth quarter came in at $26.8, falling short of analysts’ estimates of $26.9 billion.
On Tuesday, the federal government entered its 25th day of a shutdown, the longest on record. The shutdown could slowdown activity in the capital markets.
“For IPOs, in particular, for sure if we don’t see the ability to get approval from the SEC on IPOs, and to a lesser extent, some of the M&A deals that need approvals from government agencies, it will be problematic in the ability to see those activity levels play out and fees be realized,” CFO Marianne Lake said on a call with analysts.
Despite the earnings miss, Dimon remained upbeat on the state of the U.S. consumer.
“Our customer-centric business model has benefited from a healthy and engaged U.S. consumer that is spending, saving and investing,” Dimon said, “We continue to outpace the industry in consumer deposit growth, albeit slower, and client investment assets increased for the year on record net new money flows. Credit and debit sales volume, as well as merchant processing volume, were all up double digits.”
Dimon noted that the firm has helped extend credit and raise capital of $2.5 trillion for U.S. consumers and businesses. He also added that the firm opened Chase branches in new states for the first time in ten years.
“While in the early days, we are seeing terrific results so far — and this is only the start as we continue to open branches in several new markets in the months and years to come.”
Breaking the results down further, revenue from fixed trading came in at $1.86 billion, down 16% from the prior year. The bank cited "challenging market conditions" that hurt credit, rates, and commodities trading.
Meanwhile, equity markets revenue was $1.3 billion, up 15%.
Elsewhere, investment banking revenue came in at $1.72 billion, up 3% from a year ago. The bank noted that this reflecting "higher advisory fees predominantly offset by lower underwriting fees."
“Despite a challenging quarter, we grew Markets revenue in the Investment Bank for the year with record performance in Equities and solid performance in Fixed Income. Investment Banking fees were a record for the year, driven by strength in both CIB and Commercial Banking. Asset & Wealth Management delivered strong banking results and continued its string of annual net long-term inflows, even as volatility and lower market levels impacted fourth quarter results.”
Citigroup kicked off the earnings season for the banks on Monday, reporting a beat on earnings, but a miss on revenues. Revenues for Citigroup were down 2% on a year-over-year basis due largely because of the slump in fixed-income trading. The bank’s fixed-income trading revenue fell 21% on a year-over-year basis. CEO Michael Corbat attributed that drop to the recent market volatility which has resulted in a challenging trading environment.
Wells Fargo (WFC) reported fourth-quarter results on Tuesday that beat on profit, but missed on revenue. Wells Fargo delivered earnings per share of $1.21, versus estimates of $1.16. Revenue came in at $20.98 billion, missing forecasts of $21.73 billion.
CEO Tim Sloan said he’s “proud of the transformational changes.” He also touted “meaningful improvements” in how the firm manages risk, especially in operations and compliance.
Bank of America (BAC) and Goldman Sachs (GS) on Wednesday and Morgan Stanley (MS) on Thursday.
Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
