JPMorgan Asset Management Predicts Profit

JPMorgan & Chase's asset management arm expects to be profitable in the fourth quarter, despite worldwide turbulence from the global financial crisis, the unit's chief executive said on Tuesday.

JPMorgan Asset Management, whose headcount is down 44 percent this year amid the world's worst financial crises in decades, could also consider hiring more people next year if the global
situation doesn't get worse, Chief Executive Jes Staley told Reuters in an interview.

His unit, which manages $1.2 trillion in assets, has cut its headcount to about 900 from around 1,600 at the beginning of the year, as global stock markets have tumbled on fears of a prolonged global recession and amid a wave of bank failures and government-led bailouts.

JPMorgan Asset Management previously reported net income of about $350 million in the third quarter, down from about $500 million in the same period of the year before.