Tough Market Greets Bear Castoffs

Firm pitches in to help 5K employees laid off after takeover

(NEWSER) - JP Morgan hopes to find jobs for 5,000 Bear Stearns employees cut when it acquired the brokerage in March, the Financial Times reports. CEO Jamie Dimon is sending letters to rivals and clients, and the company has contacted 1,800 firms urging them to consider former Bear workers. The approach could be used across Wall Street, which has pared 65,000 jobs—and counting—amid the credit crunch. More»

Bank's collapse sends college grads job-hunting in a tough market

(NEWSER) - Hundreds of college grads who thought they had landed dream positions with Bear Stearns were canned before their first day on the job, the Wall Street Journal reports. As the giant bank began to implode, the students were at first assured their new jobs were safe—but then were sent packing to hunt for work along with 38,000 others recently let go by the financial industry. More»

Investors find hope in stress tests and unemployment results

(NEWSER) - Stocks rallied today on the unemployment report and stress-test results, the Wall Street Journal reports. Though unemployment continues to grow, the slowing pace of joblessness fueled a cautious optimism. American Express and JP Morgan Chase, who “passed” the government’s test, both gained 9%. The Dow closed up 164.80 at 8,574.63. The Nasdaq added 22.76, closing at 1,739.00, and the S&P 500 gained 21.84 to 929.23. More»

Wall Street chieftains were well rewarded for risks they took in 2003-07

(NEWSER) - More than $3 billion was paid to the chief executives of the five biggest financial firms on Wall Street in the run-up to the credit crisis, Bloomberg reports. While supervising bad mortgage-related credit bets that eventually brought the financial system to its knees, Merrill Lynch’s Stanley O’Neal took in $172 million in 2003-07, while Bear Stearns’ James Cayne took in $161 million. More»

(NEWSER) - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the nation's last two major independent investment banks, have gotten permission to become bank holding companies, the Federal Reserve said tonight. A fundamental rearrangement of Wall Street, the move will allow them to create commercial banks, which would bolster their resources, while inviting increased regulation. It reflects the Fed's determination not to let Goldman and Morgan Stanley fail, the New York Times notes. More»