Financials Rally Following JPMorgan Dividend Announcement

JPMorgan Chase and Co. (NYSE: JPM) said Tuesday it will raise its dividend to 30 cents and launch a $15 billion share buyback in a show of balance sheet strength just days after the bank passed the Federal Reserve's now-yearly "stress tests."

The bank also noted the $15 billion repurchase plan and the increase in the dividend to 30 cents from 25 cents had been approved by the U.S. central bank, which recently finished subjecting the 19 largest financial institutions in the country to a series of "stress test" scenarios.

The announcement forced the Federal Reserve, which had not announced the full results of the tests, to move that announcement up by two days to Tuesday.

Investors responded exhuberantly to the news. JPMorgan Chase, which had been trading near $41.32 when the news broke, quickly rose to levels over $43. It ended the day at $43.39, a gain of 7.03 percent. Peers Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) all jumped on the news, with shares in those companies rising over 6 percent for the day.

All but Citigroup, which was revealed by the Fed to have narrowly failed the strictest of the Fed's capital scenario stress tests, were able to hold on to or extend those gains in after-market trading.