WaMu's Out, JPMorgan JPM Huge deal at 1.9B$ for 2000+ branches, $700B Bailout Stalls, Gold, TNR, MAI, SST, MTS - CZX

First things first. Remember WaMu?

Of course you do, we just spoke of how desperate it was on yesterday's entry. Well, today, we will have to remember WM, as it has been acquired by JP Morgan in a firesale deal of a paltry $1.9 billion.
Let's take a look at what JP Morgan is getting in this last minute no-details until complete deal. Is it realisitic that this was done the same day, or has this been arranged through government assistance all along?

JPMorgan Chase Acquires the Deposits, Assets and Certain Liabilities of Washington Mutual's Banking Operations

Highly attractive, strategic transaction significantly strengthens consumer franchise.

Deal expected to be accretive to earnings immediately.Adds large, stable deposit base and recurring earnings stream to company.

Company intends to raise additional capital in conjunction with this transaction to maintain strong capital position.

• Acquisition creates largest U.S. depository institution, with over $900 billion of customer deposits
• Expansion into attractive California, Florida and Washington State markets creates nation’s second-largest branch network; also strengthens existing presence in New York, Texas, Illinois, Arizona, New Jersey, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah
• Larger branch footprint will allow company to further extend and grow commercial banking, business banking, credit card, consumer lending and wealth management efforts

NEW YORK -- (Business Wire)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) tonight announced it has acquired all deposits, assets and certain liabilities of Washington Mutual’s banking operations from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), effective immediately. Excluded from the transaction are the senior unsecured debt, subordinated debt, and preferred stock of Washington Mutual’s banks. JPMorgan Chase will not be acquiring any assets or liabilities of the banks’ parent holding company (WM) or the holding company’s non-bank subsidiaries. As part of this transaction, JPMorgan Chase will make a payment of approximately $1.9 billion to the FDIC.

The acquisition expands Chase’s consumer branch network into the attractive states of California, Florida and Washington State and creates the nation’s second-largest branch network – with locations reaching 42% of the U.S. population. The combined 5,400 branches in 23 states will also serve as an excellent base to extend the reach of the business banking, commercial banking, credit card, consumer lending and wealth management businesses. The acquisition also extends Chase’s retail branch network to additional states, including Georgia, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.

As of 6/30/08
($ billions)		JPMorgan Chase		Washington Mutual		Combined
Select Business Metrics
Footprint (states)		17		15		23 states
Total Assets		$1776		$310		$2,036
Total Managed Loans		$617		$231		$848
Branches1		3,203		2,207		5,410
Total Deposits		$722.9		$181.9		$904.8
Checking Accounts		11.3mm		12.7mm		24.0mm
ATMs		9,310		4,962		14,272
Managed Credit Card Loans		$154.7		$26.4		$181.1
Credit Cards Issued		157.6mm		12.7mm		170.3mm
Employees		195,594		43,198		238,792
Network Comparisons
U.S. Households		25.0%		30.3%		42.3%
Average Income		$71,595		$74,747		$72,332
Businesses		26.5%		33.0%		45.6%
US Population in Footprint		75.0mm		94.1mm		129.9mm
5yr US Population Growth Rate (‘07-‘12)		3.3%		5.6%		4.9%
% of Population Growth in Footprint		18.0%		37.9%		46.2%

¹ Branch data is as of September 18, 2008

If that's not an incredible deal I don't know what is!! $1.9 billion is what most Canadian banks lose in a quarter, in another words it's pocket change! Outstanding deal making (and likely well connected) Jamie Dimon.

The ones left in the cold are the loyal shareholders, many of whom are employees with stock options, long time pensioners, and more from around Seattle area. Who is going to stick up for their losses?

On a lighter side... maybe the newly appointed CEO Alan H. Fishman who was on the job for a demoralizing oh...17 days will pitch in a bit of his lunch money for some well-deserved relief?

The virtual collapse of Washington Mutual was a tragedy for many thousands of customers and clients. Everyone, however, is breathing a sigh of relief: he recently hired CEO Alan H. Fishman has landed on his feet. He only worked at WaMu for 17 days and will receive roughly $20 million. Thinking on the bright side, just think how much he would have cost to fire if he ran a successful company.

Lest anyone would object to this compensation package, it is only a little over a million dollars a day to ride a company into the dust of financial ruin.

This includes a $7.5 million bonus but a $11.6 severance package for his many days of loyal service. My question is whether, after only two weeks in the job, Fishman actually knows where the payment office is in the headquarters.

Thanks to presidential McCain's political plot to get credit for alterring the highly unpopular $700 Billion plan, today's market plunged once again on failed anticipation of the bailout before the grim weekend. Not surprisingly, many blame McCain for the stall and the subsequent drop on the market today.

In US political circles, there have been accusations that Republican presidential candidate John McCain has ruined the original bailout deal.

Earlier on Thursday, US legislators appeared close to finalizing an agreement on the bailout, but a White House meeting between the presidential candidates, Congressional leaders and US President George Bush was left unresolved.

After the session, a group of conservative Republican legislators proposed an alternative mortgage insurance plan, as an alternative to the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout.

Democrats have alleged that Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, spoiled the anticipated White House plan by throwing his support behind the new scheme.

While McCain’s campaign staff have denied Senator McCain’s involvement, Democratic candidate, Barrack Obama, has referred to the episode as an example of presidential politics in a delicate negotiation “creating more problems rather than less."

Gold is up along with other commodities today, no surprise there!

Los Azules property has another record announcement of costing and feasibility report by December 2008, along with a specatacular recovery rate on the existing resource of 11 billion lbs of Copper.

Minera recovers up to 93% Cu in Los Azules testing

2008-09-25 13:38 ET - News Release

Mr. Art Johnson reports

MINERA ANDES ANNOUNCES EXCELLENT METALLURGICAL TESTING RESULTS FOR LOS AZULES

Minera Andes Inc. has received excellent results from the metallurgical testing program completed as part of the Los Azules project National Instrument 43-101 preliminary assessment (scoping study) planned for completion by year-end. The test results show that the Los Azules ore material is amenable to conventional flotation recovery methods and that the overall metal recoveries and the copper concentrate grades are high.

The table shows the metal recoveries and the amount of metal recovered into concentrate in the locked-cycle flotation tests for all three composite samples.

                                               Metal in
                                              copper
Sample      Ore type            Head grade   concentrate    Metal recovery

Composite                    Cu     Au    Ag  Cu    Au    Ag  Cu  Au  Ag
                           (%)  (g/t) (g/t) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) (%)
1         Strong enriched
        sulphide          0.85  0.094  2.7   34  2.7   101  92  56  70

2         Weak enriched
        sulphide          0.55  0.087  1.7   30  3.9    80  93  66  62

3         High-grade
        primary sulphide  1.55  0.125  4.0   33  2.4    84  93  74  84

Allen Ambrose, president of Minera Andes, said: "The positive metallurgical testing program shows that standard reagents and flotation methods can be used at Los Azules to produce a high-quality saleable concentrate. Copper recoveries over 92 per cent and copper concentrate grades over 30 per cent copper indicate that flotation concentration would be the preferred process for all ore types, which are of medium hardness for grinding. Gold and silver grades are also sufficient to contribute payable precious metals to the concentrate."

The metallurgical tests were conducted on three composite samples collected from recent drilling campaigns at Los Azules, including core from the latest 2007-2008 season. The three composites were identified as strong enriched sulphide ore, weak enriched sulphide ore and high-grade primary sulphide ore. The strong enriched sulphide composite showed potential for recovery of 75 per cent of the copper by acid leach. Concentrate arsenic content was 0.22 per cent or below for all ore types. Concentrate from the strong enriched sulphide composite contained 2.4 per cent zinc compared with less than 1 per cent for the other ore types. Other metals in the concentrates were below penalty limits.

The metallurgical testwork was carried out by laboratory C.H. Plenge & Cia in Lima, Peru, under the direction of Samuel Engineering. The program was designed to determine the crushing, grinding and flotation characteristics of the primary and secondary (enriched) sulphide ore types found at Los Azules that are representative of the current National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource estimate. The test data will be used by Samuel Engineering to develop a process flow sheet, to identify further testing requirements, and to develop capital and operating costs for the scoping study that is scheduled to be completed in December of this year.

Mr. Ambrose, president of Minera Andes, an appropriately qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, for the Los Azules project, has reviewed and approved the content of this press release.

Minera Andes is advancing the Los Azules project under an option agreement (see news in Stockwatch dated Nov. 14, 2007), with Xstrata Copper, one of the commodity business units within Xstrata PLC (London Stock Exchange: XTA.L and Zurich Stock Exchange: XTRZn.S). The scope and size potential of the project increased dramatically in 2006 when the Minera Andes drilling discovered a near-surface high-grade area of copper mineralization, when AZ-06-19 encountered 221 metres of mineralization averaging 1.62 per cent copper that was 200 metres from hole AZ-06-20 containing 173 metres of 1 per cent copper.

This news is submitted by Mr. Ambrose, president and director of Minera Andes.

Consider some shares of TNR around $0.20 and at $1.10_ for Minera Andes. Longterm valuation still looks very bullish for the commodities, if not even more than before.

Before we sign off for the weekend just a reminder, Mantle Energy has changed their ticker to CZX Canadian Zinc Metals as of yesterday.