JP Morgan reported earnings this morning that exceeded anyone’s expectations. The giant bank reported 82 cents a share in earnings, compared to only 9 cents a share for the same quarter a year ago. Analysts had been expecting only 52 cents a share from JP Morgan Chase to be reported today.

A $33 million settlement between the Bank of America and the Securities and Exchange Commission over bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch executives was rejected Monday morning by a Federal District judge. The bonuses were paid right before Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch last year.

Sure $7 billion might sound like huge loss, but let's put things in perspective, shall we?

On the heels of UBS's impressive $7 billion fourth quarter loss, Credit Suisse proved that it is truly Switzerland's second-largest bank by posting a $5.2 billion loss of its own.

Lehman Brothers maintained its squeaky-clean image by relying on its seamier subsidiary. Just call her Aurora.

Both Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs lobbied the Federal Reserve to become bank holding companies over the weekend. Their bid was approved by the Fed, ending the era of the independent investment bank.

News agencies are reporting that Lehman may file for bankruptcy by midnight tonight.

Lehman Brothers, a major American investment firm, is spending the weekend trying to find an investor that would save the firm from complete collapse. The company has lost 80 percent of its stock value since Monday, when it announced that it had not secured a deal with the Korean Development Bank, which was widely expected to occur.

UBS reported a second-quarter loss of 358 million francs ($331 million) and announced a separation of its investment banking and wealth management units.

Merrill Lynch & Co and Citigroup have issued statements saying that they are taking serious steps towards reaching an agreement with US regulators.

Washington Mutual proved yet again that it could extract more value from its operations by firing everyone except a few beefy guys to shovel deposits into an incinerator. Can a handful of former bankers work fast enough to incinerate $3.3 billion in a quarter? It seems unlikely.

In a speech delivered this morning, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the Fed may extend the direct lending facility to investment banks into 2009 as long as emergency conditions "continue to prevail".