J.P. Morgan Completes Sale Of Physical Commodities Assets

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. announced Friday that the bank has sold off parts of its physical commodities business to Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. The all-cash transaction was previously announced, along with the sale of other parts of the bank's physical commodities assets. The bank has sold or liquidated a substantial part of the its physical commodity assets that were part of the original $3.5 billion deal with Mercuria. The after-tax impact of the various sales is not expected to have a material impact on the firm's earnings, said J.P. Morgan. The bank's exit from the physical-commodities business comes after criticism from regulators about possible price manipulation by Wall Street banks in this area. J.P. Morgan shares closed up 2.48% in trading at $60.30 a share.