JPMorgan Chase & Co, the third-largest US bank, said its second-quarter profits fell, hurt by $1.1 billion in write-downs at its investment banking unit. However, the results still beat expectations.
Net income dropped to $2 billion, or 54 cents per share, from $4.23 billion, or $1.20 a share, a year earlier. Analysts had on average expected 44 cents a share.
But JPMorgan also sounded a note of caution. 'Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak - and to likely get weaker - and for the capital markets to remain under stress,' CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement.
The New York-based company, which bought Bear Stearns in May, has survived the credit crunch better than its peers and so far avoided some of the massive write-downs posted by other banks this year.
