Another US bank has reported a poor set of financial results, following Citibank's massive $10 billion loss reported yesterday.
JPMorgan Chase said its profit in the last three months of 2007 fell by a worse than expected 24%. The third biggest US bank lost $1.3 billion on risky mortgages and set aside more money for rising losses on home and car loans.
The bank quadrupled to $1.1 billion the amount it set aside to cover continued problems in the US mortgage sector.
'We remain extremely cautious as we enter 2008,' JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement. He said a worsening US economy would boost consumer credit losses beyond current levels.
JPMorgan reported fourth-quarter income from continuing operations of $2.97 billion, or 86 cents a share, down from $3.91 billion, or $1.09 a share, a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had expected 91 cents a share.
