JPMorgan Chase & Co., the nations largest bank by assets, said its fourth quarter profits jumped by 42% from a year earlier, as the firms investment bank division had a stellar quarter and the banks balance sheet improved despite the pandemic. Excluding one-time items, the bank earned $3.07 a share, which is well above the $2.62 per share forecast analysts had for the bank. Banks had set aside tens of billions of dollars to cover potentially bad loans, and JPMorgan had been particularly aggressive in setting aside funds early in the pandemic. The driver of JPMorgan's profits this quarter was the investment banking business. The corporate and investment bank posted a profit of $5.35 billion compared with $2.94 billion in the same period a year earlier.