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JPMorgan Reports Another Stumble in Mortgage Segment

decreasing-threeSecond-quarter profits at JPMorgan Chase [1] dipped nearly 8 percent year-over-year as the bank continued to work with a diminished mortgage market.

JPMorgan's latest earnings report [2], released Tuesday, shows the megabank earned $6.0 billion in profits over the latest three months, putting its performance somewhere between the $5.3 billion reported in the first quarter and $6.5 billion a year ago.

Revenues were down 2 percent compared to the year-ago period, coming in at $25.3 billion.

Despite the year's setbacks so far—particularly in the bank's mortgage segment—chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said "the firm has continued to deliver strong underlying performance."

JPMorgan's mortgage originations last quarter were $16.8 billion, down two-thirds from last year and 1 percent from the first quarter.

Meanwhile, application volumes were $30.1 billion, down more than half from a year ago but up 15 percent from Q1.

While housing activity in the first quarter was lackluster, analysts had expected the market to pick back up for a busier spring season. Sales and construction have indeed recovered to a livelier pace, but origination levels remain anemic. In a recent analysis, investment firm FBR Capital Markets [3] maintained its prediction that year-end originations will total below $1 trillion.

Overall, JPMorgan reported mortgage banking net income of $709 million, a decline of $433 million compared to a year before as the bank experience lower net revenue and a lower benefit from its credit loss provision.

Still, Dimon remained optimistic in his comments.

"Toward the end of the second quarter, we saw encouraging signs across our businesses including an uptick in wholesale utilization, strengthening pipelines in our commercial and business banking segments, and some improvements in markets activity," he said. "While it is too early to assume that this momentum will continue, we have confidence in the long-term growth of the economy."