WSJ - J.P. Morgan Flags $2 Billion Trading Loss

WSJJ.P. Morgan Chase has taken $2 billion in trading losses in the past six weeks and could face an additional $1 billion in second-quarter losses due to market volatility, Chief Executive James Dimon said Thursday in a hastily arranged conference call after the market closed.

The losses stemmed from derivatives bets gone wrong in the bank's Chief Investment Office, a part of the corporate branch of the bank that manages risk for the New York company. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that large bets being made in that office had roiled a sector of the debt markets.

The loss is a black eye for the bank, which sailed through the crisis in better shape than most of its peers, and Mr. Dimon. It comes at a time when large banks are fighting efforts by regulators to rein in risky trading with measures such as the so-called Volcker rule.

Full article here.

Thoughts?

57 Comments
 
motivatorDo you think this might have any impact on hiring? I have an internship at JP in ER this summer which I'm pretty hopeful about converting....

Yes, but fortunately not for you.

Do what you want not what you can!
 

net loss was only 800 mm. read through the call

Here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, you are the sucker.
 
djrajioJPM CIO group = bank's internal hedge fund. I have a few friends that work on that desk. Group made $5BLN last year, now down -$2BLN.

no you don't or your friends work at another group...CIO does not make a lot of money and you can confirm that in public statements so don't make untrue remarks.

Do what you want not what you can!
 
bossman
djrajioJPM CIO group = bank's internal hedge fund. I have a few friends that work on that desk. Group made $5BLN last year, now down -$2BLN.

no you don't or your friends work at another group...CIO does not make a lot of money and you can confirm that in public statements so don't make untrue remarks.

Or maybe you should go investigate stuff yourself. OP is entirely correct. Read this: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/worlds-largest-prop-trading-desk-just-went-bust

"Macris’s team amassed a portfolio of as much as $200 billion, booking a profit of $5 billion in 2010 alone -- equal to more than a quarter of JPMorgan’s net income that year, one former senior executive said."

 
Best Response
Nabooru][quote=WSJ The losses stemmed from derivatives bets gone wrong in the bank's Chief Investment Office, a part of the corporate branch of the bank that manages risk for the New York company. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that large bets being made in that office had roiled a sector of the debt markets.

This no doubt has to do with the synthetic credit positions were heard being taken up by the London Whale a few weeks back, seems like they got to closing those out.. of course only AFTER the market heard about it, making the pain so much more.

PS = "CIO" is nothing more than prop trading, merely disguised due to Volcker rule enforcement. Every bank has it now.

 

Point is, we know the loss came from a position in the IG index... thing is if they were long it doesn't seem like there was that much of decompression in spreads in recent weeks - maybe around 10-15bp max depending on where they actually got in. Would love to know the CIOs DV01 on that trade lol....

Hey djrajio can you find out for us from your friends?

 
Bondarbon conf call dimon said "they arent going to do anything stupid and unwind the trades at bad prices"...uh oh I've seen how this ends and it isnt pretty. Dude, just rip it off like a band-aid and take ur loss and go home.

Ever seen the movie Margin Call. Ill admit somewhat fictitious but this reminded me of it lol. I doubt that they will allow much more lose in that area as it will be watched like a hawk after this mess.

 
Bondarbon conf call dimon said "they arent going to do anything stupid and unwind the trades at bad prices"...uh oh I've seen how this ends and it isnt pretty. Dude, just rip it off like a band-aid and take ur loss and go home.

I thought the same - let the predatory trading begin!

 
ezekiel
Bondarbon conf call dimon said "they arent going to do anything stupid and unwind the trades at bad prices"...uh oh I've seen how this ends and it isnt pretty. Dude, just rip it off like a band-aid and take ur loss and go home.

I thought the same - let the predatory trading begin!

Yup. Would love to see IG9 pushed wider and wider by HFs as JPM screams in agony. Unfortunately for them, a dropping market typically comes with decompression in spreads as we've seen the last 2 weeks.

 
ezekiel
Bondarbon conf call dimon said "they arent going to do anything stupid and unwind the trades at bad prices"...uh oh I've seen how this ends and it isnt pretty. Dude, just rip it off like a band-aid and take ur loss and go home.

I thought the same - let the predatory trading begin!

They can get really fucked if this is coming from those trades made by the London whale. This might be why they are thinking of holding it or at least saying so. If people know JP needs out and they have all the fucking market they are going to get destroyed.

 
JeffSkilling
trailmix8btw is it possible to find out what the underlyers of their open CDS positions are? or is that not public info.

It's called the shadow banking system for a reason.

It was most likely the Markit CDX.NA.IG, either the most recent vintage (http://www.markit.com/assets/en/docs/products/data/indices/credit-index…) or the series 9 (http://www.markit.com/assets/en/docs/products/data/indices/credit-index…)

 
RelinquisI love that there was so much PR in the past couple of years about how different JP Morgan was from other banks and how much of visionary CEO Diamond was and all of that nonsense... Nice reality check.

I assume you mean Dimon, not BarCap Diamond

 

From the article above...

"Expected to leave as soon as Monday are Ina Drew, who has run the risk-management group tied to the losses since 2005; Achilles Macris, who was in charge of the London-based operation that placed the questionable trades; and trader Javier Martin-Artajo."

Do you guys think Jamie Dimon should resign from his post as CEO of JP Morgan as well? What about resigning from his position on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's board as Elizabeth Warren has suggested?

Thoughts?

 

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