5 Key Takeaways from JPMorgan Chase's Q2 Earnings

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), America's largest bank by assets, kicked off earnings season for the second quarter of the year, generating $3.78 diluted earnings per share (EPS) on total revenue of nearly $30.5 billion. Both EPS and revenue beat analysts' expectations, although JPMorgan also released another $3 billion of reserves previously stored away for loan losses back into earnings, which provided a $0.75 benefit to EPS. Here are five takeaways from JPMorgan's earnings results.

The economic recovery that so many experts and economists have talked about is officially underway. Combined spending on debit and credit cards at the bank, which has $3.68 trillion assets, jumped 45% in the second quarter of this year from the second quarter of 2020, and is up 22% from the second quarter in 2019.

Travel and entertainment (T&E) spend, perhaps the hardest-hit sector during the pandemic, was flat in the second quarter compared to the second quarter of 2019, and really rebounded in June. In April, T&E spend was down 11% compared to April of 2019, but in June T&E spend was up 13% from June 2019. CEO Jamie Dimon said, "You may have growth in the second half this year as strong as it's ever been in the United States of America."

Source Fool.com