2Q 2012 Earnings: Key Takeaways From JPMorgan's Results And Clues About The Economy

[First appeared on Seeking Alpha on July 16, 2012]

We continue to profile the 2Q 2012 earnings reports of large cap companies (recap of Alcoa's results here). Going into earnings season, many companies reduced guidance and analysts cut their projections. We now want to find out if expectations were reduced low enough to reflect the generally pessimistic view of 2H 2012. JPMorgan's (JPM) Q2 earnings release on Friday sparked a 6% jump in the stock and a relief rally in the overall market. In this update we look past the noise of the London Whale trade and focus on some of the trends behind JPMorgan's earnings and the implications for other companies and the broad market.

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