JP Morgan global strategist quits

Abhijit Chakrabortti, Wall Street's most bearish stock strategist for the last two years, resigned from JPMorgan Chase & Co, a spokesman said.

Chakrabortti, 39, stepped down on Friday as global equity strategist and no replacement has been named, said Brian Marchiony, a spokesman for the third-largest US bank. Marchiony declined to comment on the reason for the departure.

Attempts to reach Chakrabortti were unsuccessful.

Since May, Chakrabortti's 2007 price forecast for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index of 1,515 has been the lowest among 13 strategists tracked by Bloomberg News. He raised it from 1,440, his prediction at the start of the year.

The S&P 500 closed at 1,445.94 yesterday, down 6.9 percent from a record high on July 19. Chakrabortti was also the most pessimistic strategist in 2006, starting the year with an S&P 500 forecast of 1,125 before increasing it to 1,190 in May and to 1,280 in October. The index rose 14 percent to 1,418.3 during 2006.

Three other top strategists have left Wall Street firms this year. Henry McVey resigned as chief U.S. investment strategist at Morgan Stanley in June to join hedge fund Fortress Investment Group LLC.