In Brief: J.P. Morgan Put on Credit Watch List

Standard & Poor's placed J.P. Morgan & Co. and its units on the CreditWatch list with negative implications.

Previously, the holding company and its bank were on "negative outlook."

Ratings analyst Tanya Azarchs said that the move indicates that there is a significant chance that Morgan Guaranty Trust & Co. - the highest-rated U.S. domestic bank in the country - could lose its AAA rating. The holding company could lose its AA- plus rating.

" Over the last decade, the company's business mix has evolved, so that it has been increasingly reliant on more market-related sources of income, such as underwriting, advisory services, and trading," said Ms. Azarchs in a press release. "This profile has rendered earnings more volatile. The expense base has also become quite high, so that earnings could be vulnerable to revenue declines."

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