Stories related to: Bear Stearns

What's next for Bear Stearns? A Wall Street institution for the better part of a century, it is now scrambling to find a buyer. Its best hope is JP Morgan, which provided a temporary lifeline yesterday along with the Fed. But other possible suitors include Citibank and HSBC, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a sign of the times, the Journal notes that Bear's single biggest asset might be its building—the Madison Avenue digs could fetch $1.2 billion. More »

News of the Bear Stearns bailout triggered a sell-off today as investors were reminded that the true depth and breadth of current credit problems remains uncertain, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bear Stearns stock closed at 30, down a breathtaking 47.4% on the day. The Dow fell 194.65 to 11,951.09, the Nasdaq 51.12 to  2,212.49, and the S&P 500 27.34 to 1,288.14. More »

Bear Sterns has reached out to rival JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for emergency funding to reassure investors concerned about the struggling investment bank's deteriorating liquidity, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move is a startling indicator of how hard the subprime virus has hit US credit markets and financial firms. More »

Home-equity loan defaults are soaring, the Wall Street Journal reports, as the trickle-down effect of the subprime mortgage crisis makes its way into what was once a source of big profits for lenders. JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo both escaped major writedowns on subprime mortgages gone bad, but already are feeling the pain from home-equity losses. More »

Disney is ramping up its Internet efforts and expects to reap greater returns thanks to hit shows being streamed online, such as Lost and Grey’s Anatomy , reports the AP. The company expects to earn $1 billion in fiscal 2008, a sizable jump over last year, said CEO Robert Iger in a webcast yesterday. He said Disney will aggressively mine online opportunities to establish and expand new revenue streams. More »

US stocks fell today for a third consecutive day as fears of recession continued to spread, MarketWatch reports. With Ambac’s revival uncertain and Countrywide facing a possible securities fraud probe, shares of both financial giants plummeted, pressuring the overall market downward. The Dow lost 153.54 to close at 11,740.15, the Nasdaq dropped 43.15 to 2,169.34, and the S&P 500 fell 20.00 to 1,273.37. More »

Commercial real estate could be the next victim of the current economic downturn, and if it is, expect it to cause another full-fledged crisis, the Wall Street Journal reports. Commercial real estate values could fall as much as 26% over the next 2 years, Goldman Sachs analysts predict, leading to another round of huge write-offs and creating "a significantly longer tail than subprime." More »

Add Bear Sterns CEO Jimmy Cayne's to the list of rolling heads in the subprime mortgage market collapse, reports the Wall Street Journal . Cayne, 73, has been the target of board and shareholder angst over the 53% drop in the bank’s stock last year—the largest of any of the big securities firms. He began informing directors yesterday of his decision. More »

Analysts expected Bear Stearns to post its first-ever loss today, they just expected it to be smaller. After $1.9 billion in subprime writedowns, the company posted a $6.91 loss per share, dwarfing the $1.82 analysts predicted. Executives gave up their bonuses, as revenue from debt sales and trading were wiped out, Bloomberg reports. “They’ve got a myriad of problems,” one analyst said. More »

The manager of hedge funds that lost $1.6 billion when they went bankrupt in July has left Bear Stearns, and federal investigators are looking into whether he withdrew his own money before the collapse. Ralph Cioffi moved $2 million in March—before the funds tanked in the subprime collapse—to another Bear offering, Bloomberg reports; the feds are investigating. More »

Bear Stearns’ CEO and other top executives, poised to announce the company’s first quarterly loss in its 84-year history tomorrow, are expected to bypass millions of dollars in annual bonuses, an acknowledgment of the dismal year the firm had, driven down by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and two internal hedge funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. More »

He owns the largest residence in Manhattan, several planes, and a private island. A superstar financial adviser to seriously wealthy clients, Jeffrey Epstein is also a patron of cutting-edge scientists and an FOB. But, New York magazine writes, he inhabits a sexual dream world populated by young girls giving "massages" that has him facing federal prostitution charges. More »

Several high-profile Wall Street firms that packaged and sold subprime mortgages have been subpoenaed by New York prosecutors, the Wall Street Journal reports today. Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, and Deutsche Bank—among others—will be asked to explain how the offerings were reviewed before they were sold to investors, and what relationship the firms had with credit-rating services. More »

The Big Five Wall Street securities firms will pay $38 billion in bonuses this year—up from $36 billion last year—while shareholders tote up $74 billion in losses, their worst year since 2002, Bloomberg reports. All but Goldman Sachs lost more than 20% of their market value, says an analyst, but "they're all going to have to fall into line. If Bear and Merrill plead poverty, they're going to lose all of their good people.'' More »

China, suffering buyer’s remorse after investing in US private equity firm Blackstone, is taking its time before diving back into that end of the financial pool, reports the Financial Times . The Big Three of US equity firms, Carlyle, KKR, and TPG, are each seeking a minority investment from China’s Social Security Fund, which has some $61.5 billion in assets. More »

The markets seesawed today as an afternoon rally faded then revived, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Friday's bloodbath lingered into this morning, but a speech by Fed governor Randall Kroszner raised hopes for a rate cut, reports the Journal. The Dow closed up 44.95 at 13,566.97, the Nasdaq up 28.77 at 2,753.93, and the S&P up 5.70 at 1,506.33. More »

In a welcome boost after this year's devastating subprime losses, Bear Stearns today moved to secure a long-coveted slice of the Chinese market. Stearns and China’s Citic Securities Co. agreed  to invest $1 billion in each other, pooling their Asian resources to develop new products for the Chinese market, and launching a Hong Kong-based joint venture to reach markets outside China, Bloomberg reports. More »

The Dow climbed 99.5 points today on the strength of the GM settlement and speculation that billionaire Warren Buffett might buy 20% of beleaguered Bear Stearns. The brokerage helped spur the biggest gain in a week, jumping 7.7% after the Buffett story circulated. Said a trader, “You can’t go wrong with a guy like that behind you.” GM surged 9.4% after settling its contract with the UAW, Bloomberg reports. More »

Two financial giants posted dramatic earnings this morning: Goldman Sachs wowed investors with a 79% surge in third quarter net income, while Bear Stearns’ dropped 61% thanks to massive hedge-fund losses. The two were on opposite sides of the subprime collapse. Bear Stearns is among the top packagers of mortgage-based securities, which Goldman short-sold for huge gains. More »

The troubles plaguing Countrywide and Bear Stearns’ hedge funds will move from the boardroom to the courtroom. Homeowners and banks are suing mortgage lenders, shareholders are suing funds, the SEC is investigating executives, and Congress may conduct hearings into credit agencies' practices. The current mess ensnares “an incredible range of parties,” one legal expert tells the Washington Post. More »