Stories related to: Bear Stearns

Billionaire Joseph C. Lewis has bought enough stock to become the largest single shareholder in embattled investment bank Bear Stearns, Reuters reports. The reclusive British-born currency trader bought up $860.4 million in shares over the last month, nabbing a 7% stake. Putnam Investing, the second largest shareholder, owns a 6% stake. More »

The credit crisis, which has surged across the global financial infrastructure like a tsunami, washing away millions of share prices, is about to hit one of Wall Street's most hallowed traditions —the fat bonus. The extra pay for all but an elite few may be cut for the first time in five years, Bloomberg reports. More »

The Dow closed down 15.69 at 12845.78 today, after plummeting 343 points in early morning trading on fears the credit debacle was spilling into the larger market. Investors continued to fret about the rising yen and nervous foreign markets, but rumors that the Fed would cut interest rates continued to percolate late into the day, despite contrary hints from Ben Bernanke. More »

France's largest bank today froze three investment funds threatened by the subprime mortagage collapse, claiming it can’t “fairly” place a value on their rapidly declining assets. Citing the “complete evaporation of liquidity” in the US securities market, BNP Paribas halted withdrawals from the funds, which were worth $2.2 billion, down 20% in less than 2 weeks, Bloomberg reports. More »

The major indexes were up again today, buoyed by the tech sector as the Nasdaq gained 51.38—more than 2%—to close at 2612.98. Losses just before the bell came close to erasing earlier gains, as rumors amplified that Goldman Sachs would liquidate a major fund and that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wouldn’t get regulatory permission to buy mortgage loans. More »

Bear Stearns, faced with the implosion of two hedge funds worth more than $1 billion, has decided to liquidate them in the Cayman Islands—a move that will give creditors and investors less access to their money.  Bloomberg forecasts a court battle over the tactic, which an analyst said will yield creditors and investors “a pittance on the dollar.” More »

Mortgage tremors have rippled so far across the home loan market that even buyers of high-priced homes with good credit records are now being squeezed, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rates have surged on loans above $417,000 for prime borrowers—to 7.34% for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, up from 6.5% in May. More »

Bear Stearns has fired its No. 2 and once-likely successor as CEO in the wake of  the collapse of two company hedge funds worth more than $1B, reports the Wall Street Journal . Warren Spector, the most high-profile casualty to date in the subprime-mortage crisis rocking Wall Street, is a mortgage and trading expert who oversaw the unit that housed the two failed funds. More »

The securities firm Bear Stearns will oust its stocks and bonds trading chief, the WSJ reports, and soften its emphasis on short-term trades. The extraordinary moves come in the wake of Friday's market sell-off, partly triggered by investor concern about Bear Stearns after the collapse of two of its mortgage-bond funds. More »

After two straight days of gains and a steady morning the Dow plummeted in a selloff late this afternoon, losing 2% of its value to close at 13179.71, down 283.62. Bear Stearns lost big after Standard and Poors downgraded the subprime-laden i-bank from "stable" to "negative," stirring more worries over the deeply troubled credit market. Financial stocks followed expeditiously: Lehman brothers lost almost 8%. More »

Wall Street is dizzy after mixed signals threw traders into buy mode despite an abundance of bearish indicators today, making for one of the most volatile days in weeks. The Dow finished up 150.38 points at 13362.37, even after Asian markets plummeted across the board last night, a buyout for Bauch & Lomb failed, and a troubled Bear Stearns put another subprime-backed hedge fund on hold. More »

Bear Stearns has blocked withdrawals from a mortgage investment fund amid Wall Street jitters over the crisis in high-risk subprime mortgages, the Wall Street Journal reports. Two Bear Stearns hedge funds heavily invested in subprime mortgages collapsed in June, and now another fund, which has only a tiny fraction of its assets in subprimes, is taking a beating. More »

Bear Stearns told clients yesterday that two of its hedge funds backed heavily by subprime mortgages were close to valueless. The investment bank is putting up $1.6 billion in rescue financing, as Wall Street looks to dump other bonds that have been hit by the subprime downturn as quickly as possible. More »

The recent collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds, and the resulting informal SEC investigation, have once again placed the complex system and its impact on markets under the spotlight. The Washington Post delves into the history and ethos of the powerful funds, comparing them to the Wizard of Oz in both secrecy and influence. More »

The feds are investigating the controversial bundles of financial services that have recently shaken the market and sparked a spate of leveraged buyouts, the Journal reports. SEC chief Christopher Cox told a congressional panel yesterday that "about 12 investigations" were under way into CDOs, shared debt packages reliant on faltering subprime mortgages. More »

The near-collapse of a $20 billion pair of hedge funds has left Wall Street jittery, though not yet in panic mode, the Journal reports. Speculation about the fate of the Bear Stearns funds rippled through yesterday's markets, where stocks and bonds dipped widely; news that banks were struggling to unload subprime-backed securities had traders biting their nails. More »

Morgan Stanley released far better-than-expected earnings figures today, with net income up over 40% in the last quarter. Riding strong fixed-income sales and trading figures, profits rose to $2.58 billion, up from $1.84 billion last year. That's a far cry from rivals Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns, whose second-quarter bottom lines were hit hard by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. More »

Two major Bear Stearns hedge funds that once controlled more than $20 billion in assets are on the brink of collapse after disastrous losses in securities backed by subprimes. The Journal reports a bailout plan that would have kept the funds afloat fractured last night, and the consequences could ripple through the mortgage market in the weeks ahead. More »

Bear Stearns posted a 10% drop in quarterly earnings today, the latest victim of the subprime collapse. The country's second-largest mortgage-bond underwriter posted profits well below expectations, down nearly 33% from last year to $362 million. Goldman Sachs escaped bruised but more-or-less unscathed, with profits up 1% on the strength of its banking division. More »