J.P. Morgan Chase shares fall for a second straight session on Friday, bank to establish “fintech campus” in Silicon Valley

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (JPM) announced on Friday that it planned to open a new “fintech campus” in Silicon Valley where it would employ over 1 000 people. The majority of them will be employed with J.P. Morgan’s Chase Merchant Services division, which is the second-largest processor of card transactions for merchants in the United States.

J.P. Morgan Chase shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session in New York on Friday. The stock edged down 0.17% ($0.18) to $107.91, after touching an intraday low at $107.27, or a price level not seen since October 16th ($106.73).

Shares of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co have risen 0.91% so far in 2018 compared with a 3.52% gain for the underlying index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2017, J.P. Morgan’s stock soared 23.93%, thus, it outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 19.42% return.

In 2017, Chase Merchant Services acquired WePay, a firm specializing in linking payment software with bank networks. Based in Silicon Valley, WePay currently employs 275 people who are to be relocated to the new fintech office.

According to Matt Kane, Chief Executive Officer of Chase Merchant Services, the Wall Street bank is ready to face the high costs of operating in Silicon Valley in exchange for the opportunity to hire locally-based software engineers. The latter are to complement payments industry specialists who are currently employed with J.P. Morgan Chase mostly in Tampa, Florida and Plano, Texas.

The new fintech campus is scheduled to open in Palo Alto, California in 2020.

According to CNN Money, the 30 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding J.P. Morgan Chase & Co’s stock price, have a median target of $125.00, with a high estimate of $140.00 and a low estimate of $85.00. The median estimate represents a 15.84% upside compared to the closing price of $107.91 on October 19th.

The same media also reported that 14 out of 32 surveyed investment analysts had rated J.P. Morgan Chase & Co’s stock as “Buy”, while other 14 – as “Hold”. On the other hand, 1 analyst had recommended selling the stock.

Weekly Pivot Levels

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co (JPM) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $108.34
R1 – $110.37
R2 – $112.82
R3 – $114.85
R4 – $116.87

S1 – $105.89
S2 – $103.86
S3 – $101.41
S4 – $98.95