“When William B. Harrison Jr. speaks of last year’s $31 billion merger of J. P. Morgan and the Chase Manhattan Corporation, he speaks proudly of a deal that he considers to be a capstone to his 34-year career of helping build a giant of the banking business,” write Riva Atlas in today’s New York Times.

” ‘This is the first merger I’ve been part of,’ said Mr. Harrison, the chief executive of the combined bank, “where I feel our core business is complete.’ “

“The Chase-J. P. Morgan combination helped advance the bank into the investment banking elite, just as Mr. Harrison intended. But with Wall Street and the economy in far different places today than they were when the deal was put together, the many mergers, stock sales and other money-making opportunities that were supposed to justify the high-priced acquisition have largely dried up for now.”

“Consequently, deal makers and analysts who follow the bank are already speculating that Mr. Harrison, 58, may ultimately be compelled to do yet another large deal, this time to diversify his business away from its heavy emphasis on Wall Street.”

“J. P. Morgan Chase has won some prominent assignments, like handling the revampings of troubled giants like Lucent and, more recently, Enron, the beleaguered energy trading company.”

“But while J. P. Morgan Chase is proud of serving alongside Citigroup as both lead lender and adviser to Enron on its acquisition by Dynegy, the dual role it has worked to achieve sometimes proves complicated for the bank. With Enron’s shares in free fall as more information comes out about its hidden debts, J. P. Morgan Chase has been scrambling to maintain the support of other banks while simultaneously keeping the merger with Dynegy on track.”

“Thanks largely to the slump on Wall Street, J. P. Morgan Chase’s profits fell by two-thirds in the third quarter, to $449 million from $1.4 billion in the period a year ago. Its stock has dropped 15 percent this year, more than other banks’ shares. The bank’s stock is ahead of investment banks like Goldman Sachs, with which J. P. Morgan Chase increasingly competes.”

” ‘The jury is still out in many respects on this merger,” said Judah Kraushaar, an analyst at Merrill Lynch. Nevertheless, he likes J. P. Morgan Chase’s stock, he said, because ‘expectations are very low.’ “