JPMorgan Chase & Co posted an increase in first-quarter earnings, as it set aside less money to cover bad loans.

COMMENTARY

PETER DIXON, ECONOMIST AT COMMERZBANK, LONDON

These were good numbers. They beat estimates but not massively. I think the financial sector generally is holding up but is not performing quite as well as we would like to see ... decent results. They bode well for financials but not necessarily for the rest of the earnings season. They will give some heart to those of us who believe that the second quarter results are going to come in pretty strong. Certainly given disappointing Alcoa results these are much positive signals.

MATT MCCORMICK, PORTFOLIO MANAGER AT CINCINNATI-BASED BAHL & GAYNOR INVESTMENT COUNSEL

Nice beat on both the earnings and the revenue side, they even managed to match the whisper number of $1.28. But the market's reaction to the release is that the bar was set pretty high. JPMorgan Chase results, though strong, were not enough to satisfy the hungry beast.

I can almost hear Jamie Dimon saying, 'What more do I have to do?' JPMorgan is kind of viewed as the bellwether of the industry, Jamie Dimon is the fair-haired boy, one of the clear stars of the banking industry ... I think the expectations were fairly high, they were expecting him to come in with a big, big number and it wasn't enough. ... I would have thought it would have been better received.

ADRIAN CRONJE, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER AT ATLANTA-BASED BALENTINE, A WEALTH MANAGEMENT FIRM MANAGING $600 MILLION IN ASSETS.

The numbers are not too surprising and a little disappointing. The key is loan growth, and for a deleveraging economy it's important that bellwether banks like JPMorgan begin to show signs credit is expanding to the private sector. That's what will ultimately turn this recovery into a durable expansion, but it seems like that's not yet happening.

MICHAEL HOLLAND, FOUNDER OF HOLLAND & CO LLC

Jamie Dimon does it again. This is the fifth consecutive quarter they've beaten estimates. He's kind of like Michael Jordan in his prime in basketball. The expectations are higher than anyone else and he keep exceeding those expectations.

MIC MILLS, HEAD OF ELECTRONIC TRADING AT ETX CAPITAL, LONDON

The initial concerns about the fall of revenues over Q1 and the sustainability of profits are now being outweighed by EPS beating expectations.

PHILIPPE GIJSELS, HEAD OF RESEARCH AT BNP PARIBAS FORTIS GLOBAL MARKETS, BRUSSELS

JPMorgan reported very strong earnings. Earnings per share came out strongly ahead while revenues were also a bit above. The company seems well on track to meet the Basel requirements. There is also a large share buyback which is a sign of confidence and will increase shareholder value. It once again underscores that the corporate sector, and some banks, are clearly the healthiest part of the economy.

As for the overall earnings season, we still think it will be a strong one. The JPM results underscore this. However, as the year progresses it will become more and more difficult to beat estimates, which we think are still too optimistic. In quite a bit of sectors there is quite a bit of input inflation and not too much pricing power. This should weigh on margins. The banking sector will be faced with tougher regulation and capital requirements, which in the long run will weigh on margins as well.

GWENAEL MOY, HEAD OF IG MARKETS FRANCE, PARIS

The results are better than expected, which should boost the banking sector, at least in the short term. The initial market reaction on French banking shares is positive and confirms that the sector's positive momentum is intact.

(Reporting by Maria Aspan, Joe Rauch, Tricia Wright, Atul Prakash, Dominic Lau and Blaise Robinson; compiled by Tiffany Wu)

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