JPMorgan beats Wall Street expectations in tough quarter for banks

JPMorgan Chase & Co , the No. 1 U.S. bank by assets, reported a quarterly profit that topped low market expectations as lower costs and better-than-expected trading revenue helped soften the blow from a fall in investment banking fees. JPMorgan is the first U.S. bank to report results for what has generally been seen as the banking industry's worst start to a new year since the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Banks around the world have been hit by a slide in commodity and oil prices, a slowdown