The stock initially rose 3 percent in futures trading after the figures, before losing some ground.
Net income rose to $21.3 billion, compared with expectations of $19.6 billion and $16.8 billion in net income a year earlier.
Arch-rival Goldman Sachs shocked Wall Street with a 72 percent increase in equity trading revenue in the quarter to $7.4 billion on Tuesday.
Other banking giants in the US - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup - also reported unexpectedly strong quarterly figures on Tuesday.
