JP Morgan: Los Angeles wildfires losses estimated at $50 billion

The American investment banking and wealth management firm JPMorgan said that the losses resulting from this week’s fires in Los Angeles County, California, have so far reached nearly $50 billion, and that these losses are likely to increase as the fires continue to burn and spread.

The company’s estimates indicated that the estimated economic losses from the wildfires in Los Angeles “have more than doubled since Wednesday to nearly $50 billion.”

It also noted that “the insured losses from this week’s fires could exceed $20 billion in insured damages, making them the costliest in U.S. history.” It said that they “will far exceed the $12.5 billion in insured damages from the 2018 Camp Fire (in Northern California), which was ranked as the costliest wildfire in the country’s history.” “The fires are not yet contained and are continuing to spread, meaning that estimates of potential economic and insured losses are likely to increase,” JP Morgan analyst Jamie Bolar said in a research note.