JPMorgan Chase Adds to Earnings Beats Earnings season is off to a good start with Intel (INTC) beating the “numbah” last night.Now JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) results are also adding to the positive sentiment.The second largest bank in the US by assets reported profits of $0.82 a share beating analyst estimates by $0.30. Revenues rose nearly 4% on a year-over-year basis to $26.62 billion above expectations of $24.96 billion.Credit costs remain high and Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that the company is adding $2 billion to consumer credit reserves. Dimon said that although the company is ...

Real estate investment trusts have doubled since early March despite persistent warnings from the Federal Reserve and economists that commercial real estate could be the next big shoe to drop in the financial crisis after the residential housing bust.

REIT Stocks Refuse To Break Down

Looking at REITs before consumer spending takes off could yield positive future returns for investors.

As an addendum to my suggestion that there may be far less equity for REITs’ shareholders than the stock price may suggest last night the Wall Street Journal reported that Maguire Properties (MPG) will hand the keys to 7 properties back to the lenders because all of those buildings are under water. According to the article arguably all of MGP buildings are worth less than the debt . Pull up the gross asset value (which is what most owners would use for marketing purposes)Click to enlargeand the outstanding secured debt as stated on the last 10-Q:Click to enlarge and ...