JPMorgan Loses $1.5 Billion Since July

Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. will write down the value of mortgage-backed assets by at least $1.5 billion this quarter after credit-market turmoil and the U.S. housing slump deepened.

Trading conditions ``have substantially deteriorated'' since July, and ``sharply widened'' spreads on mortgage-backed securities and loans caused losses, the second-biggest U.S. bank by market value said in a regulatory filing late yesterday. Financial firms have reported more than $492 billion of losses and writedowns on debt securities since.

The Dow is up 10% since the mid-july bottom.
Oh, and Wachovia's loss is also widening since July:

Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Wachovia Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. bank, said its second-quarter loss was bigger than reported in July because of costs to settle a probe of auction-rate securities sales. It also increased planned job cuts.

The bank revised the loss to $9.11 billion, or $4.31 a share, from $8.86 billion, or $4.20 a share, according to a regulatory filing today. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank now plans to dismiss 6,950 employees later this year, 600 more than previously disclosed. The new job cuts will come from Wachovia's mortgage operations, spokeswoman