Layoffs at Wall Street investment firms are likely in the wake of the weekend sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase. The company's 14,000 employees have yet to learn their fate but some are already packing their personal belongings.

The bank's employees owned about a third of the company's shares. So losing their jobs may not be as big a blow as losing their retirement savings.

"There are a lot of guys in there who aren't rich any more," one trader told the Financial Times newspaper.

Some analysts told the newspaper that they expect thousands of other jobs to be cut on Wall Street. The turmoil caused by the global credit market problems is spreading to other financial services firms.

Monetary policy changes by the Federal Reserve this week could help stop the erosion. Wall Street cheered the rate cut Tuesday and stock prices rose 420 points.