We broke down JPM's conventional earnings picture earlier (which was not pretty in any way with NIM plunging, mortgage business slowing down, and trading revenues down from last year), however the real story is not in any of the traditional P&L items but in a little discussed line item released in the earnings supplement [6]called Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (AOCI), which is the last remaining vestige of Mark to Market.
As we reported two weeks ago [7], it is here that the recent surge in yields would flow through, impacted by JPM's duration-exposure, and while it may not be hitting Net Income courtesy of a very pliable accounting board which several years ago came up with FAS 115 [8] allowing the classification of securities as Trading, Available for Sale (the relevant category in this case) and Held-To-Maturity, it does impact net equity. Sure enough, as we showed a few days ago in "Taper Fears Lead To Biggest Monthly Loss In Bank Securities Portfolios Since Lehman [9]", JPM just reported the biggest hit to its AOCI line since Lehman, which plunged from $3.5 billion to a miserable $0.4 billion. All we can say is hurray that Mark to Market is dead. Or rather, all Jamie Dimon can say...
Putting this number in context, JPM's entire Q1 Net Income was 6.5 billion. If accounting still worked as it should, half of it would have just been wiped away.