NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase saw its first quarter profits jump nearly five fold from a year earlier, as the improving economy allowed the bank to release roughly $5 billion from its loan-loss reserves that it had stored away in the early weeks of the pandemic. The nation’s largest bank by assets said Wednesday that it earned $14.3 billion, or $4.50 per share, in the first three months of the year. That’s compared to a profit of $2.87 billion, or 78 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier. The results were significantly better than what the forecasts of analysts, who were looking for JPMorgan to report a profit of $3.10 per share, according to FactSet.
