Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
Five big American banks share their money news on July 14. This is called 'earnings season.' It happens every few months.
The banks are JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup. They tell everyone how much money they made.
People think JPMorgan made a lot more money than last year. Its profit per share may go up about 15 percent.
This news comes at a busy time. Oil prices are moving up and down because of trouble in the Middle East. Investors watch the banks closely to see how strong the economy is.
- bank
- A business that keeps people's money safe and lends money to others
- earnings
- The profit a company makes over a period of time
- profit
- The money a company keeps after paying all its costs
- share
- A small piece of ownership in a company that can be bought and sold
- percent
- A part of something out of every hundred
- investor
- A person who puts money into a company hoping to earn more back
- economy
- The system of money, jobs, and business in a country
- market (stock market)
- A place where shares of companies are bought and sold
Level 2 — Elementary
The second-quarter 2026 earnings season officially kicks off on July 14, when five of America's largest banks report their results before the market opens.
JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup are all scheduled to release earnings on the same morning, giving investors a broad snapshot of the financial industry's health.
Analysts expect JPMorgan to report earnings per share of about $5.80, roughly 15 percent higher than the $4.96 it reported a year earlier, with revenue projected around $51.3 billion.
The most closely watched number, though, is net interest income, the profit banks make from the gap between what they charge on loans and what they pay on deposits. The results land while markets stay jittery over oil price swings tied to the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran.
- quarter (fiscal)
- A three-month period used for financial reporting
- earnings per share (EPS)
- A company's profit divided by the number of its outstanding shares
- revenue
- The total amount of money a company brings in from its business
- net interest income
- The profit a bank earns from the difference between loan interest charged and deposit interest paid
- deposit
- Money placed into a bank account
- analyst
- A person who studies companies and markets to predict future performance
- snapshot
- A brief overall picture of a situation at a particular moment
- jittery
- Nervous or uneasy, often because of uncertainty
Level 3 — Intermediate
Wall Street's second-quarter 2026 earnings season formally opens on July 14, when JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup all report results before the opening bell, offering investors a broad, near-simultaneous read on the health of the US financial sector.
JPMorgan, whose results traditionally set the tone for the sector, is expected to post earnings per share of roughly $5.80, a 15 percent increase from the $4.96 reported a year earlier, on projected revenue of about $51.3 billion, a 14 percent year-over-year gain.
Beyond the headline profit figures, analysts are focused most intently on net interest income, the spread between what banks earn on loans and what they pay depositors, after JPMorgan trimmed its full-year guidance for that metric to roughly $103 billion when it reported first-quarter results in April.
The reports land against a volatile macro backdrop: oil prices have swung sharply on the escalating US-Iran conflict in the Strait of Hormuz, adding a layer of uncertainty to how investors will interpret bank commentary on loan demand, credit quality and the broader economic outlook.
- opening bell
- The signal marking the official start of a day's stock market trading
- sector (financial)
- A category of companies operating in a similar business, such as banking
- guidance (financial)
- A company's own forecast of its future financial performance
- spread (interest rate spread)
- The difference between two interest rates, such as loan and deposit rates
- macro (macroeconomic)
- Relating to the economy as a whole, rather than individual markets or firms
- credit quality
- A measure of how likely borrowers are to repay their loans
- year-over-year
- Comparing a figure to the same period one year earlier
- outlook (economic)
- A forecast or expectation about future economic conditions
Level 4 — Advanced
The unofficial start of Wall Street's second-quarter 2026 earnings season arrives on July 14, when JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup report results in near-simultaneous fashion before the opening bell, compressing what is typically a staggered rollout into a single, market-moving morning.
JPMorgan's figures carry outsized weight as a bellwether for the sector; consensus estimates point to earnings per share near $5.80, a roughly 15 percent year-over-year increase from $4.96, on revenue approaching $51.3 billion, extending a streak in which the bank has beaten expectations in each of its last eight quarters.
The metric analysts are parsing most closely is net interest income, the margin banks capture between loan yields and deposit costs, a figure JPMorgan itself tempered when it trimmed full-year guidance to roughly $103 billion during its first-quarter release, a signal some investors read as caution about the trajectory of rate-sensitive lending.
That caution is compounded by a genuinely volatile macro backdrop, as oil markets whipsaw on the deepening US-Iran confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz, forcing investors to weigh headline profit beats against banks' own commentary on credit quality, loan demand and exposure to an increasingly unpredictable energy-price environment.
- bellwether
- Something that indicates a trend or foreshadows future developments
- consensus estimate
- The average forecast of financial analysts covering a company
- staggered (rollout)
- Arranged to happen at different times rather than all at once
- yield (loan yield)
- The income return earned on a loan or investment, expressed as a rate
- rate-sensitive
- Likely to be strongly affected by changes in interest rates
- whipsaw
- To move sharply back and forth, causing losses or confusion
- confrontation (geopolitical)
- A direct and serious conflict between opposing parties
- exposure (financial)
- The degree to which an investor or institution is affected by a particular risk
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