What’s going on here?

JPMorgan Chase announced higher-than-expected earnings for last quarter on Friday, and pushed its profit forecast for the rest of the year up to new heights, too.

What does this mean?

Both JPMorgan’s revenue and profit beat investors’ expectations, not least because the company’s “net interest margin” – the difference between what it charges customers for loans versus the amount paid on its own borrowing – was meatier than predicted. Filled with confidence, the bank went on to hike its interest income forecast for the rest of the year. Wells Fargo may just have turned green at the news: the rival bank’s net interest income shrank last quarter, leaving total revenue to fall short of forecasts. That said, both banks had bustling investment banking activity on their side – and that helped Wells Fargo blow past analysts’ profit estimates, at least.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Money makes the world go round.

Banks’ earnings tend to reveal a lot about how the overall economy is holding up. See, their savings and loans businesses are affected by rising and falling interest rates, while their advisory businesses – which help firms work through fundraising and acquisitions – offer insight into how companies are faring. JPMorgan gave its two cents on Friday, saying consumers are “fine and on strong footing”, which bodes well for consumer discretionary companies – those selling stuff shoppers want but don’t necessarily need. But the bank’s CEO also sounded the alarm (and not for the first time) on the state of the US and geopolitics farther afield. Stateside, JPMorgan said high levels of government debt and the need to spend on infrastructure were causing concerns for the US economy. But it’s the last bit that’s most likely to keep you up at night: the big bank said things appear to be “treacherous and getting worse” on the global stage, due to rising conflicts with the potential for far-reaching economic and historical outcomes. On balance, not the most reassuring update you could ask for.

What’s going on here?

In the immortal words of Dwayne Johnson, we “smell what the (Black)Rock is cooking”: the asset manager turned out a better-than-expected earnings update on Friday.

What does this mean?

The world’s biggest investment manager has earned that moniker: the amount of money it looks after – its “assets under management” (AUM), as the number crunchers say – rose to a record $11.5 trillion last quarter, helped by investors handing over $221 billion of fresh cash. And at BlackRock, the more the merrier. The firm charges a fee on all the cash under its stewardship, see, so more AUM means more revenue and profit. And last quarter, the resulting earnings were enough to lay the proverbial Smackdown on investors’ overly pessimistic expectations.

Why should I care?

For you personally: Peek behind the curtain.

BlackRock’s updates say a lot about where folk are putting their money. Take last quarter as an example: the firm’s report shows investors piled into passive stock and bond exchange-traded funds (ETFs), actively managed bond funds, money market funds, and “alternatives” – think real estate, private debt, and other long-term, hard-to-trade assets. That stacks up with the recent Modern Investor Pulse. Almost half of the retail investors surveyed planned to invest in ETFs in the next six months, while around 20% were considering investing in alternatives, bonds, and money markets.

For markets: Fine wine and art are good for more than boring first dates.

Speaking of alternatives, BlackRock’s been making strides with more out-of-the-ordinary investments. The firm just spent $13 billion to acquire a private market assets business, as well as $3 billion on a UK data firm that specializes in alternative investments. The reason’s straightforward enough: firms like BlackRock can charge investors more for hard-to-access alternatives than they can for old faithful stock and bond investments.