J.P. Morgan Chase Profit Falls 13 pct

NEW YORK - J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. posted lower third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, missing analyst expectations, as costs from its July merger with Bank One Corp. and anemic fixed-income trading revenue hurt profits.

New York-based J.P. Morgan, the No. 2 U.S. bank, reported quarterly net income of $1.42 billion, or 39 cents a share, compared with $1.63 billion, or 78 cents per share a year ago.

Excluding $741 million in merger-related costs, J.P. Morgan posted operating earnings of $2.2 billion, or 60 cents per share. Wall Street analysts had expected the bank to earn 74 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shares of J.P. Morgan fell $1.63, or 4 percent, to $36.35.

"It was a very poor quarter, well below expectations and really almost entirely tied to fixed-income trading," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment officer at Solaris Asset Management.

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