JP Morgan showed its resilience in the first quarter as it kicked off the reporting season for Wall Street’s biggest banks with a 29% drop in net profits, compared with a year ago, that was chiefly down to a $900m-plus hit related to the tightening of the bank’s own credit spreads.

Profits in the first three months of the year at JP Morgan's investment bank totalled $1.7bn, down from $2.4bn in the same period in 2011, while net revenues, at $7.3bn, were 11% below the $8.2bn figure posted in the same period last year, the bank said in a statement today.