After $1.3 million write-downs because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, JPMorgan’s fourth-quarter net income dropped 34%, the Wall Street Journal reports.
JPMorgan today reports 2007 fourth-quarter income from continuing operations of $3.0 billion, or $0.86 per share, down 21% compared with $3.9 billion, or $1.09 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2006. For full-year 2007, income from continuing operations was a record $15.4 billion, or $4.38 per share, up 15% compared with $13.6 billion, or $3.82 per share, in 2006. Reported net income for the fourth quarter of 2007 was $3.0 billion, down from $4.5 billion in the prior year, which included a $622 million gain on the sale of selected corporate trust businesses in the fourth quarter of 2006 that is not included in continuing operations. Reported earnings per share of $0.86 declined from $1.26 per share in the fourth quarter of 2006.
“We remain extremely cautious as we enter 2008,” says Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon. “If the economy weakens substantially from here — for which, as a company, we need to be prepared – it will negatively affect business volumes and drive credit costs higher.”