JPMorgan Chase NYSE:JPM found that AI agents beat both the classic 60/40 portfolio and the bank's own rule-based market model in backtests spanning the past 20 years.
The bank tested 8 agentic AI models tasked with asset allocation decisions. All 8 beat the benchmarks, while the strongest model delivered an annual return 0.7 percentage point above the traditional portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, with lower volatility.
JPMorgan is the largest U.S. bank by assets, with businesses spanning consumer banking, investment banking, trading, payments and asset management. Its research teams also develop quantitative strategies used to study markets and portfolio allocation.
Still, JPMorgan is not declaring victory for AI investors. Strategists led by Thomas Salopek warned against accepting overly confident answers of AI, noting that backtests cannot prove future outperformance.