NEW YORK - THE chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Thursday the US bank has had a 'terrible' November and December, blaming the 'normal culprits': mortgages, credit, and high yield bonds and loans.

'November itself has been a terrible trading month ... (and) December so far is pretty terrible,' Mr Jamie Dimon told CNBC. 'It will be a tough quarter.'

Mr Dimon said he was referring to the trading, loans and mortgage segments of the largest US bank.

Looking ahead, the CEO said US housing prices - which spawned the current credit crisis - could fall another 20 per cent.

Later, in a speech after receiving the 'Legend in Leadership Award' of the Yale School of Management Chief Executive Leadership Institute, Dimon said the housing crisis was unfixed.

At the ceremony, which took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, Mr Dimon said the company could have to make further writedowns if the recession became worse than expected, but added the bank was prepared to face any scenario.

'We do those numbers and they are not pretty', Mr Dimon said and added: 'We are going to be prepared for whatever' happens.

At the CNBC interview, he said that, 'if we're lucky', the market could start to recover after two more quarters.

Mr Dimon added that it does not currently make sense for two major investment banks to merge, adding that acquiring a brokerage unit is not a strategic imperative for JPMorgan.

Mr Dimon's remarks on the bank's fourth quarter hammered the bank's shares, which represented the biggest drag on the Dow Jones industrial average. JPMorgan shares ended down 10.68 per cent at $29.94 on the New York Stock Exchange. -- THOMSON REUTERS