JPMorgan to post ‘high teens’ percentage drop

Some of revenue decline stems from sale of bank’s physical-commodities business

JPMorgan Chase will probably report a "high teens" percentage drop in fourth-quarter trading revenue from a year ago, its chief financial officer has said.

Most of the revenue decline will stem from the sale of the bank's physical-commodities business and higher interest costs from the issuance of preferred stock, Marianne Lake said at an investor conference in New York. She said the "core performance" of the trading business probably will slip 4 per cent. JPMorgan's forecast follows an estimate on Tuesday from Citigroup that its trading revenue will slide about 5 per cent from a year ago.

Bank of America, the second-biggest US bank after New York-based JPMorgan, predicted a decline for the business from both the third quarter and a year ago, without giving an estimate for the size of the drop.

– (Bloomberg)