A sign is seen outside the JPMorgan office in Los Angeles
A sign is seen outside the JPMorgan office in Los Angeles REUTERS

JPMorgan Chase & Co reported lower third-quarter net income as the European debt crisis set back corporate dealmaking.

The bank's shares fell 1.5 percent in premarket trading to $32.70.

The first major U.S. bank to announce results for the period, JPMorgan said earnings were $4.3 billion, or $1.02 a share, compared with $4.4 billion, or $1.01 a share, a year earlier.

All things considered, we believe the firm's returns were reasonable given the current environment, Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in a statement.

The results were muddied by adjustments for the market value of the bank's debt, which gave it a $1.9 billion pre-tax gain.

Wall Street analysts had estimated on average that the bank earned 91 cents a share. It was not clear if the bank's results were comparable with that estimate.

JPMorgan's share count declined 3 percent from a year earlier due to stock buybacks.