JPMorgan earns $4.8 billion in 2nd quarter

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Thursday its second-quarter net income soared 77 percent to $4.8 billion as a slowdown in losses from failed loans helped offset a difficult spring in trading and investment banking.

JPMorgan Chase, the first of the big banks to report earnings for the April-June period, easily surpassed analysts' expectations as it earned $1.09 a share, up from $2.7 billion, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had forecast a profit of 67 cents per share in the just-ended quarter.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the company reduced its reserves to cover failed loans by $1.5 billion in this quarter but that loan losses …