It also indicates that to some extent the company's strong growth between 2004-2007 was as attributable to industry-wide expansion. So while on the surface, JP Morgan's numbers look exception, they were merely just riding the wave that carried all of the industry's main players.

Likewise, the struggles of 2008 were more directly related to the industry's struggles as a whole than anything specific to JP Morgan. The trading desk lost over $10 billion, compared with a profit of $9 billion the year before. This proved to be the major difference in JP Morgan's year-over-year performance. A study of competitors would likely reveal a similar trend for last year.

The most exceptional thing about JP Morgan's financials is that the impact of absorbing Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual does not appear to have damaged the company in any way. This means that JP Morgan was able to grow substantially last year,...
[ View Full Essay]