JP Morgan Chase has not ruled out using the capital it will get from the US government for more acquisitions after snapping up Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual’s banking arm, and has today posted third-quarter results that trounced analysts’ loss fears and included a trebling of investment banking profits.

As part of its plan to inject capital into the US banking system, the government is going to buy $25bn (€18.3bn) of preferred stock in JP Morgan Chase, although Jamie Dimon, chairman and chief executive of the bank, said he did not know when this was going to happen.