Chase, which plans to buy West coast investment bank Hambrecht & Quist Group earned $1.19 billion, or $1.37 a share in the quarter, up from 94 cents a share, or $837 million in the year-ago quarter, including one-time items.Trading and investment banking aided the bank's results, which were 5 cents better than expected, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks analysts' estimates.

Global market upheaval following Russia's devaluation and economic crises in Asia battered many banks' profits last year, skewing comparisons. But trading and investment banking results have recovered this year, although third-quarter revenues ebbed a bit from the second quarter as the stock market faltered. Republic, which plans to merge with British bank HSBC Holdings, earned $126.5 million, or $1.15 a diluted share, in the third quarter, compared with a $92.7 million, or 96 cents a share, net loss in the year-ago quarter, when it absorbed $190.7 million in Russian losses. Fleet Boston Corp., the New England banking giant just formed by the merger of Fleet Financial Group and BankBoston, said net income totalled $711 million, or 74 cents a share, in the quarter, topping analysts' consensus by a penny. In the year-earlier period, it earned $506 million, or 52 cents a share.

Numbers from both were restated to reflect the merger of Fleet Financial and BankBoston, it said.Pittsburgh-based PNC Bank Corp., with a foothold in the Mid-Atlantic region, reported a 14 percent jump in third-quarter profits, to $320 million, or $1.06 a share, including a branch sale gain. Strong fee income from asset management and mutual fund servicing drove profits. "Chase had a very good quarter, given the circumstances -choppier capital markets than we had in the first half," Ronald Mandle, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein said. "They had good growth in consumer earnings, significant buybacks, and no big credit concerns...The new Fleet also had a good quarter. They did a bit better than I was looking for from the old Fleet." Chase's share price on Wednesday gained 3-7/16 to 74-9/16, Republic's added 6/16 to 62-1/16, and Fleet Boston's added 1/16 to 37-5/8 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. PNC, which dipped initially, rose 9/16 to 53-11/16.

Chase's trading revenues were $679 million, up from $76million in the year-ago quarter but below the $733 million in the second quarter.