JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) kicked off the 2026 earnings season on Tuesday with a complex set of results that highlighted a growing divide between its "Main Street" lending and "Wall Street" trading arms.
While the bank delivered a significant beat in trading revenue, it unexpectedly missed its own guidance for investment-banking fees, which fell 5% year-over-year to $2.35 billion.
The miss in investment banking was particularly surprising given management’s upbeat commentary just last month.
The decline was fueled by a 2% drop in debt-underwriting fees, defying analyst expectations of a double-digit rebound.
However, the bank’s traders more than picked up the slack, generating $8.24 billion in revenue and surpassing even the most optimistic Wall Street estimates in both equities and fixed income.
CEO Jamie Dimon maintained a cautiously optimistic tone, noting that while the labor market has "softened," the U.S. economy remains resilient with healthy consumer spending.
Despite the strong quarterly performance, JPMorgan’s full-year 2025 net income of $57 billion fell just short of its 2024 record—the most profitable year in the history of American banking.