WaMu Axing 3,400

New owner JPMorgan Chase will ultimately lay off 3,400 Washington Mutual employees in Seattle, a spokesperson tells the Times today. That's more than 80 percent of the 4,300 people WaMu employed here. Most branch workers will keep their jobs, but the Seattle headquarters was the hardest hit by what will be 9,200 WaMu layoffs nationwide.

About 1,900 of the Seattle workers being laid off will initially stay on as part of a transition team, "meaning those people keep their jobs for at least a couple of months and in some cases up to a year," the Times says. Workers on that team will receive double pay beginning Oct. 1, and eventually severance pay.

At this moment, the Dow is down more than 465 points, and JPMorgan stock dropped 11 percent to $28.

Update: The Dow plunged 680 points and the National Bureau of Economic research officially announced we're in a recession - and have been since last December.