Bear Stearns

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Feds, Banks Seek Lehman Deal by Tonight

BofA, Barclays balk at bad assets, but bailout not in the cards

(Newser) - Washington and Wall Street continued talks today aimed at solving the Lehman Brothers crisis as early as tonight, the Wall Street Journal reports. Federal Reserve officials still refuse to approve a bailout like the one that enabled JP Morgan to acquire Bear Stearns this summer—but possible buyers like Bank...

BofA Could Partner With China Fund on Lehman Bid

Bankruptcy remains possibility for firm

(Newser) - Bank of America could partner with financial investor JC Flowers and a Chinese sovereign wealth fund on a bid to rescue Lehman Brothers, the Financial Times reports. The hobbled investment bank had resisted selling itself, but is now eagerly seeking suitors before the last of its goodwill on Wall Street...

Lehman Employees Feeling the Pain

With the share price plunging and no buyers on the horizon worry turns to fear

(Newser) - Lehman Brothers employees who watched their colleagues at Bear Stearns lose their jobs earlier this year are preparing for a similar fate in an already clogged field, reports the New York Times. “Everyone is walking around like they have just been Tasered,” said one Lehman employee. Making matters...

Lehman Doomed by Market Schadenfreude, Bear Bailout

Everyone's enjoying watching giant fall, Lewis writes

(Newser) - All it took was a single anonymously sourced report Tuesday to send Lehman Brothers down about 50% in 15 minutes. This proves two things, writes Michael Lewis: The market is jittery, and “Lehman Brothers is doomed.” The big bank’s fate is sealed in part “because it...

A Believer in Hands-Off Now a Defender of Hands-On

Treasury chief Henry Paulson has turned to intervention to calm markets

(Newser) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is in the midst of a reluctant about-face of his economic principles. The Los Angeles Times looks at how Paulson—a former chief executive at Goldman Sachs with a long history of faith in laissez-faire capitalism—has had to become the point man for the Bush...

Demonizing Shorters Won't Save the Likes of Lehman

Darwinian market bloodletting may eliminate raider targets

(Newser) - Short-sellers have the power to utterly crush Lehman Brothers, as they did Bear Stearns, writes James Cramer in New York, but it's largely Lehman's own fault. Lehman shares much of the "mismanagement, arrogance and recklessness" that brought down Bear, Cramer opines in a piece that says excoriating short-selling hedge...

SEC Aims to Check False Rumors on Wall Street

Feds worried about false info in skittish market, but nailing culprits is tough task

(Newser) - After months of urging from business, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced plans yesterday to clamp down on the rumor mill that can induce Wall Street gyrations with false information. Last week's market turbulence pushed the feds to make the move before this week's trading, the New York Times reports—...

Baffled Execs Say Rumor Killed Stearns
 Baffled Execs Say
 Rumor Killed
 Stearns 
glossies
Jul 5, 2008 12:06 PM CDT

Baffled Execs Say Rumor Killed Stearns

They claim hedge funds, Goldman Sachs invented bad news for profit

(Newser) - Bear Stearns' collapse and shotgun marriage to JP Morgan were sparked by little more than a rumor, Vanity Fair reports. True, the investment bank had stumbled—a $1.6 billion bailout of troubled funds hurt its image—but whispers of liquidity problems were false: Bear had $18 billion in cash...

Fed Feared 'Contagion' If Bear Failed

Bernanke and crew felt they had to act, minutes show

(Newser) - If the Fed hadn't taken the unprecedented step of helping bail out Bear Stearns, a sweeping "contagion" would have doomed the markets, its members say. In newly released minutes from its March 16 meeting, the Fed reasons that the “prominent position of Bear Stearns” left it no choice...

Citi's Blahs Make Little Dent
 Citi's Blahs Make Little Dent 
MARKETS
Jun 19, 2008 3:38 PM CDT

Citi's Blahs Make Little Dent

Drop in oil prices help stocks finish slightly higher

(Newser) - Stocks posted moderate gains today as oil futures dropped below $135 per barrel on news of China's move to raise prices by trimming subsidies, MarketWatch reports. With traders little moved by warnings of further writedowns ahead for Citigroup, the Dow closed up 34.03, at 12,063.09. The Nasdaq...

Email May Toast Arrested Bear Fund Managers

Pair faces charges of misleading investors in $1.6B collapse

(Newser) - A pair of former Bear Stearns hedge-fund managers arrested today on federal fraud charges could be done in by an email in which one described their market position as "toast"—days before telling investors it was "quite comfortable." Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi will be indicted...

Paulson Seeks Expanded Fed Powers

Treasury secretary says Fed role needs to be revised, upgraded to respond to risk

(Newser) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson today will urge Congress to broaden the Federal Reserve’s oversight role on Wall Street, giving it the authority to demand data from financial institutions to help prevent incidents like the Bear Stearns collapse. Any major change in regulatory authority would have to be approved by...

Cramer: Never Seen Wall Street This Bad
 Cramer:
 Never Seen
 Wall Street
 This Bad 
ANALYSIS
Jun 16, 2008 12:02 PM CDT

Cramer: Never Seen Wall Street This Bad

Analyst sees no end in sight for layoffs and write-downs

(Newser) - While he steers clear of the Great Depression, everything else is fair game as reference in James J. Cramer’s apocalyptic appraisal of Wall Street for New York. In Cramer's 25 years, he's seen lots of implosions, but this one is different: With thousands of layoffs at major shops, and...

Lehman Posts $2.8B Loss, Stuns Wall St.

Investors fear that banks, securities firms still in trouble

(Newser) - Lehman Brothers shocked Wall Street today by posting a $2.8 billion quarterly loss, its first in 14 years and far worse than expected, the Wall Street Journal reports. Other downmarket reports added to investor anxiety, sent stocks falling, and boosted fears that banks and securities firms remain troubled. As...

Shareholders Rubber-Stamp Bear Selloff

84% OK JPMorgan buyout; chairman 'sad' over firm's demise

(Newser) - The buyout of Bear Stearns neared finality today with 84% of shareholders voting in favor of acquisition by JPMorgan Chase, the Wall Street Journal reports. Chairman James Cayne shared his feelings publicly with shareholders about the bank’s demise for the first time: "I personally apologize,” he stated,...

JPMorgan Leads Hunt to Place Bear Workers

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...

Recession Fears Overblown: Economists

Fed's actions key strong economic reports, signs of market recovery

(Newser) - A growing number of economists are saying, cautiously, that the US might have pulled back from the brink of recession, the Wall Street Journal reports. The experts credit swift action by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates and save Bear Stearns in March, and even the ongoing distribution of...

Treasury Boss: Worst Is Over
 Treasury Boss: Worst Is Over 
May 7, 2008 2:45 AM CDT

Treasury Boss: Worst Is Over

Paulson says US emerging from storm

(Newser) - The US is emerging from the credit woes triggered by the turmoil over subprime mortgages—despite the continuing wave of foreclosures across the nation, according to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Paulson, in the most positive comments yet from the White House on the nation's economic troubles, in part credited the...

Bear Bailout Called 'Worst Mistake in a Generation'

Bear Stearns move 'worst mistake in generation,' he charges

(Newser) - A former top-ranking Fed official has called the central bank's decision to bail out Bear Stearns its "worst mistake in a generation," the Wall Street Journal reports. The official, former chief of monetary policy, compares the hasty move to errors that helped trigger the Great Depression. He accused...

Are Wall Street Banks Ready to Risk Again?

Return to corporate bonds among likely signs crisis is easing

(Newser) - Wary investors appear to be returning to Wall Street, the Journal reports, buying back into higher-risk debt issues from the likes of troubled Citigroup and Merrill Lynch. “Risk taking has come back in the market,” said one expert.

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