J P Morgan Chase Co

Lifting a roadblock limiting the availability of 3-D movies at the local multiplex, banking giant JP Morgan Chase & Co. has raised nearly $700 million on behalf of a group of the country's largest theater operators, a move many in Hollywood hope will win over a new generation of filmgoers who enjoy an increasing array of options for entertainment. The financing, delayed for more than a year because of the financial crisis and the tightening of credit markets, will speed the rollout of 3-D movies to the country's movie screens as Hollywood races to capitalize on the success of such blockbusters as "Avatar" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., the country's second-largest bank, will cut 8,000 jobs because of sluggish market conditions, up from previously announced plans to eliminate about 5,000 positions, Dow Jones Newswires reported. The reduction would represent about 8% of the bank's work force of about 100,000, Dow Jones reported. Company spokesman Joe Evangelista declined to comment on the report.

The latest earnings report from JPMorgan Chase & Co. provides a rough snapshot of the U.S. economy: Although Wall Street has roared its way back to financial might, much of mainstream America is still recovering from the Great Recession. JPMorgan Chase said Friday that its fourth-quarter earnings rose fourfold over the same period last year, enabling it to provide average pay of $121,124 for its 222,000 employees -- and $378,599 for members of its elite investment banking division.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. hired Jack Welch, former chairman and chief executive of General Electric Co., as an advisor to the firm, telling employees he will help develop an "integrated corporate culture." Welch, 65, will work with Chief Executive William Harrison Jr. and senior management, Harrison said. The firm also will start a leadership institute to be set up by Vice President James Lee.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. units have been accused of age bias by a former manager in the mortgage-backed securities sales department. In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, George Bailey, 53, alleges that his managerial duties were shifted to a 39-year-old soon after his boss, 52, was replaced by a younger man. Bailey said Chase Securities Inc. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. were biased against older employees.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said Tuesday that a London court ordered Germany's WestLB to pay $165 million plus interest and costs to the U.S. bank in a suit related to the collapse of Enron Corp. The case is a victory for investment banks seeking to recoup losses on transactions with Enron entities. "They've been beaten to death on this [Enron] so far and this is the first glimmer of light," said analyst Dick Bove with research firm Hoefer & Arnett.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said Wednesday that it would buy Bank One Corp., creating a trillion-dollar bank in a deal that would further shift the U.S. financial industry's power base to the Eastern Seaboard. The combined institution would be a leader in investment banking, mutual funds, insurance and credit cards, and would cement J.P. Morgan Chase's position as the No. 2 U.S. banking firm and one of three so-called super-tier banks, with Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Friday became the latest major bank to beef up its mortgage modification efforts as the government also considers a plan to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. JPMorgan's expanded program aims to help avoid foreclosures on an estimated $70 billion in loans, which could aid as many as 400,000 customers. The New York-based banking giant has already modified about $40 billion in mortgages, helping 250,000 customers since early 2007.

Citigroup Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $111 million to settle a suit by the Retirement Systems of Alabama over losses stemming from the collapse of WorldCom Inc. stock and bonds.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported Thursday that it earned $2.7 billion in the second quarter as the massive success of its Wall Street trading activities outpaced its rising losses on consumer loans. The giant bank topped by 36% the $2 billion it earned during the year-ago quarter, but earnings per share fell to 28 cents from 53 cents because of heavy issuance of new shares.

Van Nuys resident Richard Levinson figured he was getting a pretty sweet deal when JPMorgan Chase & Co. offered to charge an average 4.5% in interest if he'd transfer his outstanding credit card debt to the bank. Levinson, 54, a musician, planned to use the Chase account as a rainy-day fund that would cost relatively little to maintain. "I work in an industry where I can never be sure of my income," he told me.

Wall Street has shown strong faith that JPMorgan Chase & Co. will survive this deep recession, but the bank Monday still opted to play it safer -- by hacking its dividend payment to shareholders. At the same time, the company said it has been "solidly profitable" this quarter, offering a ray of hope amid the latest stock market meltdown. JPMorgan said it would slash the quarterly cash dividend on common stock to 5 cents a share from 38 cents.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Friday said it had expanded a mortgage-modification program to cover investor-owned mortgages serviced by Chase, the company's U.S. consumer and commercial banking business. Chase said its expansion of a foreclosure-prevention program announced Oct. 31 could cover an additional $1.1 trillion in investor-owned loans, including mortgages held in securitizations, or bundles of mortgages sold to investors.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. eked out a fourth-quarter profit, but its results were anything but calming to investors worried about the mountain of upcoming losses in the troubled banking sector. Defaults surged in a wide variety of loans, ranging from home loans to credit cards to commercial real estate loans. JPMorgan's investment bank was forced to mark down its portfolio by $2.9 billion. And had it not been for JPMorgan's acquisition of Washington Mutual Inc. late last year, the bank would have reported a net loss for the fourth quarter.

After buying Washington Mutual Bank last fall in a government-backed deal, JPMorgan Chase & Co. intends to discard the giant thrift's brand name in the spring and to add branches in California this year despite the ailing economy. New York-based JPMorgan, which currently has no retail presence in California, will rebrand the 708 WaMu branches in California with Chase's octagonal blue logo on March 30, JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has filed two lawsuits against Enron Corp. to recover some $184 million it loaned for five power projects, according to court documents. Separately, the New York bank filed several suits against power company Cogentrix Energy Inc. for what it said was improperly drawing down on J.P. Morgan credit lines for power projects. All the suits are related to a $500-million letter of credit that J.P.

In the biggest bank failure in U.S. history, Washington Mutual Bank was seized late Thursday by federal regulators and immediately sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion. Customer deposits will be secure, regulators said, but shareholders of the nation's largest savings and loan will see what's left of their holdings wiped out. WaMu shares have lost 88% of their value this year amid huge losses in the bank's mortgage loan and credit card businesses.