JPMorgan Chase Braces for 'Noisy' Quarter

"You've got Washington Mutual kicking in already. It was immediately accretive just because the way the deal is done," Bush says. Also credit quality "is not that dire, relative to the competition."

Bush interprets the cautious comments from Dimon and US Bancorp executives, among others, to mean that even relatively good banks "are going to take the opportunity to make this the mother of kitchen-sink quarters."

At this point, "we need to get a frank assessment of 2009 and when he thinks the environment will start to turn," she says, "And more importantly, what will be the indicators he is looking for? That's what we're all grappling with right now ... What do we need to be looking for to tell us that the light is at the end of the tunnel?"