jpmorgan

In a Senate hearing Tuesday, Bank of America vowed to improve its foreclosure operations to avoid more "robo-signing" documentation problems. The bank halted foreclosures in October amid allegations of faulty paperwork and did find errors, although it claims no unwarranted foreclosures took place as a result.

The Federal Reserve may soon start letting some banks boost their dividends again, according to The Wall Street Journal. If that happens, it would signal that regulators have become comfortable enough with the new financial rules to let institutions hike shareholder payouts.

Steve Black, vice chairman at JPMorgan Chase, plans to step down early next year after a decade with the firm. He headed the company's investment bank for five years and was instrumental in its Bear Stearns acquisition. What's next? He's considering several options.

Banks' losses from buying back bad mortgages won't be as bad as previously expected, according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase, who estimate those repurchases will cost about 25% less than previously forecast.

JPMorgan Chase says it's doubling its review of foreclosure documents to some 115,000 cases, which could slow foreclosures in 41 states. Meanwhile, officials in all 50 states have launched a joint investigation into the allegations of false foreclosure documentation from banks.

These are among the big-name companies posting third-quarter results this week. Analysts are looking for increased profit growth from all of them. Also on tap: Producer prices, consumer sentiment and consumer prices.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. will shut down its proprietary commodities trading division in an effort to comply with recent federal regulations related to investment banking, Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the process that it didn't identify.

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.

Reporting early Thursday, the nation's second-biggest bank should show strong results from investment banking and lower loan losses. The consensus is for 70 cents per share in earnings, up from 28 cents in the prior-year period.

Second-quarter earnings reports start coming in this week when Alcoa releases its latest results on Monday. This week's other anticipated quarterly reports include those from industry bellwethers Intel, Google and JPMorgan Chase.