JPMorgan Chase suffers surprise $2 billion loss

In a surprise announcement on Thursday, JPMorgan Chase said it has suffered trading losses of $2 billion since the beginning of April. The group that suffered the losses is reportedly part of the bank’s corporate unit, and had been making trades designed to hedge against risk. According to CEO Jamie Dimon, after factoring other security gains, net losses are expected to surpass $800 million by the end of the second quarter, and could possibly increase depending on market conditions and the bank’s actions moving forward.

JPMorgan shares fell sharply in premarket trading on Friday, sinking more than 7 percent. In a conference call to reporters and analysts, Dimon said the losses were caused by “errors,” “sloppiness,” and “bad judgment.” Analyst Mike Mayo asked Dimon whether he thought other banks could be in the same position. “I don’t know,” Dimon said. “Just because we’re stupid doesn’t mean everyone else was.” Last quarter, JPMorgan earned $5.4 billion and hauled in revenue of $27.4 billion. The corporate unit was expected to post a net gain of $200 million.