wait a second - why are banks reporting huge profits?!

[Dude!]

i thought the economy was collapsing
that we were in a meltdown

yet all of a sudden banks are reporting
huge profits:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.n4JmDoIjlk&refer=home

WTF

i think we were sold a bill of goods
just to scare us

something really stinks here

[Tenbatsuzen]

i thought the economy was collapsing
that we were in a meltdown

yet all of a sudden banks are reporting
huge profits:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.n4JmDoIjlk&refer=home

WTF

i think we were sold a bill of goods
just to scare us

something really stinks here

You need to read the article and get a better idea of how finance works.

[Snoogans]

I wouldnt call it huge profits when you are down big from the year before. All the article says is they beat expectations. In fact:
First-quarter earnings fell 10 percent to $2.14 billion, or 40 cents a share, compared with $2.37 billion, or 68 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based bank said today in a statement. Per-share profit was expected to be 32 cents, according to the average estimate of 18 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Profits went down. Just not as far as they thought. And JPMorgan Chase was one of the few banks who had run somewhat smart and not fucked themselves with all this

[nate1000]

You need to read the article and get a better idea of how finance works.

x2

[Tenbatsuzen]

And JPMorgan Chase was one of the few banks who had run somewhat smart and not fucked themselves with all this

Yeah, they basically grabbed Wamu and then stopped this malarkey.

[DarkHippie]

When banks compete, you win.

[scottinnj]

Profits at the banks? Good. Now let's get that TARP money paid back and move on to the recovery out of this recession.

[STC-Dub]

Except when they compete for bailout money.

[Brad in Bama]

I'm still pissed they got bailed.

[Tenbatsuzen]

I'm still pissed they got bailed.

They are planning to pay back their TARP obligation... with their higher profits. And technically, just because they accepted TARP doesn't mean they got "bailed out".

[nate1000]

I'm still pissed they got bailed.

The Tarp money came in as preferred stock, with a 5% guaranteed dividend. That's a loan, not a bailout.

Every single bank that took the money (that doesn't fail) will be repaying it as soon as they are able and not a second longer. Quite a few banks took the money merely because they felt that if they didn't, they would be left at a competitive disadvantage relative to their peers, who were accepting the money.