JPMorgan Chase yesterday injected renewed confidence into the financial sector and helped push the Dow through the 10,000 barrier as it kicked off the US banks' third-quarter results season by reporting its biggest profit in more than two years.
The $3.6bn in net income earned by JPMorgan in the three months to the end of September handily beat analysts' expectations and sets the bar for rivals such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Bank of America, which report later this week.
The surprisingly strong results from JPMorgan, coupled with better earnings than expected from chipmaker Intel, offset disappointing news on US retail sales and sparked a broader market rally. The Dow and the S&P 500 were more than 1 per cent higher in early afternoon in New York, with financial stocks leading the way.