Karl Denninger may be calculating the odds of this, coupled with the odds of Goldman Sachs’s results – I’m thinking something in line with the odds of the sudden birth of a new universe. (And if you’re trading the markets, it may feel like that.) – Ilene
JP Morgan’s Perfect Quarter More Evidence “Game Is Fixed”
Courtesy of Larry Doyle at Sense on Cents
First Goldman Sachs. Now JP Morgan.
The shop where I worked from 2000-2006 released a report highlighting the fact that it made money each and every day of the 1st quarter. Thanks again to Matt for bringing this story to my attention. Bloomberg highlights, JP Morgan Traders Match Goldman’s Quarter with No Trading Loss,
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s traders matched those at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in making money every day of the first quarter, a first for both companies.
Daily trading revenue averaged $118 million on each of the 64 days in the first quarter, JPMorgan said in a regulatory filing yesterday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
JPMorgan’s trading revenue from investment banking, its chief investment office and consumer lending division exceeded $90 million on 39 of those days, or more than half the time, according to the filing. Trading revenue surpassed $180 million on nine days, or 14 percent of the time, the second-largest U.S. bank said.
Believe me, having worked in the industry for 23 years, traders and firms do not make money each and every day. These results are a reflection of easy money provided by the Fed, lessened competition leading to a financial oligopoly in our country, and a variety of programs and mechanisms which are conduits funneling money into the banking system.
While the traders on Wall Street may believe it is their talents (and plenty are truly talented), the system is rigged and the game is fixed. Uncle Sam is the accomplice to the fix in hopes that revenues being generated currently on Wall Street can be utilized to write down the values of loans which are mismarked, have defaulted, or will default.
Is JP Morgan taken aback by these revenues? Publicly, I believe they are. How do we know? Listen to the statement put forth by the bank.
JPMorgan said it doesn’t expect the same trading revenue throughout the year. “The high level of trading and securities gains in the first quarter of 2010 is not likely to continue throughout 2010,” the firm said in the filing.
How do they know this to be the case? Are they soothsayers? Do they know the ‘fix’ is going to end at some point in the second quarter or beyond? If they are taken aback by these results, then perhaps they could ease up on their credit card rates or other lines of credit utilized by American taxpayers.
While JP Morgan may want to project an air of public concern over their results, rest assured senior management inside the organization is ‘laughing all the way to the bank’ at these results, regardless of the fix.
See also: Karl Denninger, More On Goldman’s "Perfect Record"
