The London Telegraph thinks it has a scoop. Maybe it does. The paper claims that "People close to JP Morgan say it has begun consulting on the scale of job cuts but that it was likely to be on a comparable scale to those of rivals."

The paper is vague on how many people that will be. Is it 10% of the investment banking division, or 10% of the entire company? In the first case it would be a few thousand people but in the second it would be close to 25,000.

Either way, if JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) is making big cuts, it is noteworthy. Among the large U.S. financial firms, it is the one that stands out as having dodged most of the explosion that has done so much to cripple credit markets, in large part because it was better managed than the rest.

Mass layoff at JPM would indicate that even Jamie Dimon, the bank's CEO and something of a hero on Wall Street, has come to the conclusion that even strong management cannot save his firm from more tremendous losses.

That really is bad news.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) soared today after the New York-based bank reported second quarter results that were not as lousy as expected.

They were terrible of course. Net income fell 53% to $2 billion, or 54 cents a share, ahead of the 44-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Net revenue fell 3% to $18.4 billion, beating the $16.6 billion average Bloomberg estimate.

The results, though, underscore how well the company has fared under the leadership of CEO Jamie Dimon.

Here are some highlights:

• Investment banking fees were $1.7 billion, their second highest quarter ever.
• Net income in commercial banking rose 25% to $355 million.
• Net income was a record $425 million in Treasury and Security Services, up 21% from a year earlier.
• Equity underwriting fees rose 6% to $542 million.
• Fix income markets revenue dropped only 4% driven largely by net markdowns of $696 million on leveraged lending funded and unfunded commitments, as well as mortgage-related net markdowns of $405 million.
  

The straight-talking Dimon did not mince words about the challenges that lie ahead for JPMorgan, saying in the release, "Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak – and to likely get weaker – and for the capital markets to remain under stress.... In spite of the environment, we are confident that we are building an increasingly strong and profitable company."

But unlike many on Wall Street, Dimon can walk the walk and talk the talk.

If you're a regular reader, I'm sure you already know from earlier blogs that I'm a fan of smart investments in green stocks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is not only the third-largest U.S. bank, it also has a $1 billion portfolio of wind energy investments. Its 26 wind farm investments, included in the portfolio, have enough juice to power an average of 600,000 U.S. homes.

I feel that wind power is a terrific investment if done in an intelligent way, but this is not the only way that JPM impresses me. JP Morgan wants to be a bank with everything -- with retail banking, investment banking, asset management, and credit card divisions all under one roof. To that end, recently JP Morgan integrated with Bank of New York, where I was a customer. I always say seeing is believing. Bank of New York was suffering from poor performance before JP Morgan stepped in, and already, I see signs of improvement. JPM is also dedicated to controlling expenses at these branches, which will help its retail division.

Even more, I'm a big fan of JP Morgan's innovative and strong-minded CEO, Jaime Dimon, who took the helm of JPM in 2006, coming from Bank One. Particularly strong first quarter results showed a 55% net improvement over the same results last year (though, to be fair, I should mention that in part this was due to a new accounting rule adding a one time gain of $391 million). The investment bank division is going gangbusters while retail banking and card services are showing flat growth, but I think this is about to change.

Acquisitions made in the past will continue to eat at profits, but under Dimon, the bank has set specific goals in each division to smartly cut costs and drive profits. I think we're going to see JP Morgan make solid gains in the coming years.

Type of stock: The third largest bank in the U.S., I think JP Morgan has great potential under Jaime Dimon, its CEO since 2006. JPM has been careful not to overextend itself in this period of economic prosperity, a prudent move in these rapidly changing economic times.

Price target: Currently trading at $49.82, I think this is one of the few financial institutions that it is a good buy
right now. We should see JPM hit $65, maybe even by year's end.

Hilary Kramer is a financial editor and money coach for AOL and an authority on investing. Visit her at www.hilarykramer.com