J P Morgan Chase & Co on Wednesday agreed to buy Chicago-based Bank One Corp for about $58 billion in stock, in one of the largest financial mergers in US history. The acquisition would extend the geographic reach of J.P. Morgan, which has a major presence in the US Northeast, throughout the midwest and southwest, especially in consumer banking. It would also reduce J.P. Morgan’s dependence on investment banking and trading, analysts said.‘‘Lovely deal,’’ said Michael Stead, who runs the $550 million Wells Fargo SIFE Specialised Financial Services fund and owns shares of both banks. ‘‘They would command a wider geography, and they could cross-sell products more easily. A combination would be better than the sum of the parts.’’ J.P. Morgan Chase, whose roots date to 1799, was formed three years ago from the merger of Chase Manhattan and J.P. Morgan, and is the second largest US Bank. Bank One, with more than 1,800 banking offices, is the sixth largest. As many as 10,000 jobs might be cut, the banks said. William Harrison, J.P. Morgan’s chairman and chief executive, will keep those jobs in the combined company, which will be named J.P. Morgan Chase and be based in New York. Its $1.1 trillion of assets will be second to Citigroup Inc.
