Nobody expected much, so this was a relief.
With the first shot fired across the banking industry’s earnings season, JPMorgan cleared some lowered bars and investors bid shares up as a result.
The company put up earnings per share that fell year over year – no real surprise – but managed to beat expectations by 9 cents, at $1.35. That number and that beat, however, came in against a bar that had been ratcheted down into the earnings report.