The second largest bank in the United States is making money despite ongoing concerns about the health of the U.S. economy.
JPMorgan Chase Thursday said its profits during the second quarter of this year (April-June) jumped to $2.7 billion - a 36 percent increase over the same time last year.
Bank officials say its earnings increased due to trading in stocks and bonds but warned its lending activities, including home loans and credit cards, are still struggling.
Last month, JPMorgan Chase repaid $25 billion in emergency aid from the U.S. government. Earlier this week another large investment bank, Goldman Sachs, also posted larger profits than analysts had predicted.
But there are also concerns about the future of a key commercial lender.
Officials at New York-based CIT Group said late Wednesday that talks with U.S. government officials about a possible rescue had broken off.
CIT provides billions of dollars in loans to about one million small and medium-sized companies, including many struggling retailers.
A group representing U.S. retailers has said CIT's failure would have a considerable impact and "cannot be allowed to happen."
CIT has already received $2.3 billion in government bailout funds, and officials had been trying to decide whether CIT was too big to fail, like other banks that have been propped up by the government.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.
