Jaime Dimon

Profits at the nation's second-largest bank easily topped Wall Street estimates in the second quarter as lower losses on bad loans more than made up for a slowdown in its securities trading and underwriting business.

Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), will receive a $15 million to $20 million 2009 pay package -- many analysts had expected he would make much more. But even "modest" compensation packages for Wall Street CEOs will almost certainly still stir trouble among many politicians who claim that banks bailed out with TARP money have no appreciation for taxpayer sacrifices.

Vikram Pandit, CEO of Citigroup (C) set off a buying spree in bank stocks when he said his company had done well in the first two months in the year. Now, Jamie Dimon, chief of JPMorgan (JPM) could turn the buying into a wave of selling. According to Reuters, "After a meeting with President Barack...