JPMorgan Chase & Co posted higher second-quarter earnings on Thursday, beating analysts’ expectations, after setting aside less money for loan losses. The second-largest U.S. bank by assets said earnings jumped to $4.8 billion, or $1.09 a share, from $2.7 billion, or 28 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

JPMorgan reported a benefit of $1.5 billion, or 36 cents a share, from trimming its loan loss reserves in the quarter.

Excluding that benefit, the earnings beat analysts’ average forecast of 67 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The bank said its losses on consumer credit, such as mortgages, credit cards and other loans, dipped in the second quarter compared with both the first quarter and the 2009 second quarter.

But Chief Executive Jamie Dimon sounded a cautious note on the outlook for the U.S. economy. “It is too early to say how much improvement we will see from here,” he said in a statement.

JPMorgan, the first big U.S. bank to report second-quarter results, posted a charge of $550 million related to a tax on UK bankers’ bonuses. It previously warned about such a charge and said it would be a “significant” item in the quarter.

U.S. stock index futures rose following the earnings report by the bank, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average.

JPMorgan shares climbed 0.6 percent in premarket trading to $40.58. The shares are down 3 percent this year.