Bear Stearns Bought for $2 a Share !

[Turk]

JP Morgan bought Bear Stearns for just $2 a Share.

Also, the Federal Reserve cut the discount rate by 25 basis points from 3.5 percent to 3.25 percent effective immediately.

If Bear valuation has collapsed from $30/share to $2/share from Friday close, with a Fed asset guarantee to Morgan of $30B, I'd say that Morgan's $2/share offer is at least $2/share too much. Bear has gone Phfffffft, and the Fed is paying Morgan to take over what is left of the portfolio. This is as about as ugly as it gets.

 

[Pablo]

Well actually JPM is getting a great bargain., IMHO. There is more than $2 value.

 

[Turk]

We'll have a flea market coming up. I'm about 65% cash & waiting for a bottom.

 

[VeeDubb]

I'd be scared going into this week long. Hopefully we'll get some reassurance from cmhj. Rumor has it that Lehman is not far behind Bear. The Fed has about 400 billion in ammunition left for more auctions. After that, there only shot is to keep lowering rates and they'll have to increase inflation to make the real rate lower. It's not looking pretty out there.

 

[Turk]

Everything I have n the market is long.

I rolled over my 401k 1st week of Feb. and went on a buyin' spree, but held back a lg. amount for bottom fishing. It hurts to watch things go down, but with Ammo, going up will be nice as long as I can find the true near bottom and get it in there...

 

[VeeDubb]

I'd be careful, very careful. If Lehman goes next, then the next domino is Citibank. If this happens, we're talking 400 point daily drops in the Dow, and some bank "holidays" if you know what I mean.
I'm not saying this will happen, but the probability can't be much lower than a coin flip at this point.

 

[Turk]

...but I shouldn't sell mutual funds when the market is this low, correct?

 

[Turk]

Dow futures down 2.3%

Nasdaq futures down 2.6%

S&P futures down 3%

 

[CivicFan]

I have a dollar in my account with Bear Sterns. Hopefully I won't lose it

 

[PandaBear]

I sold my ESPP at $58 because I think the market isn't going that well (based on the flash memory price in buy.com and the crazy rebates going on out there, rather than waiting for the quarterly reports of individual companies), and used the $ to buy a car.

Well, the stocks drop to $22 as of today and I am happy that I sold, but the car's quote drop too. My co-worker got the same car with GPS for $4k lower than me (so it is about $5k lower) after tax.

I would have break even regardless of what I did after tax. There is a [censored], and he is really in charge of my finance.


Anyways, I have no stocks on hand and am all cash (including my 401k), eager to wait for a bargain to buy.

 

[Gary Allan]

Hmmm ...looks like "stay liquid and look for bona fide bargains" is en vogue. I wonder where I heard that before

 

[VeeDubb]

Gary, don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. If you recall, the argument was never about staying liquid. It was about the proportion and you were promoting 80%. How is the 7% annualized inflation rate doing for you on that 80%?

 

[Drew99GT]

I capitulated and am totally out of the market. Into commodities/gold/currencies/TIPS. I think we have a ways to go before this "little" financial/economic crisis works itself out. Actually, the fact I sold out a couple weeks ago probably means there is an 80% chance the market will be up 80% in the next month...

 

[Gary Allan]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Actually, the fact I sold out a couple weeks ago probably means there is an 80% chance the market will be up 80% in the next month...


It's kinda magic how that works.

 

[BearZDefect]

JP Morgan Chase is on track to take over the world.

They seem to have a sharp, harsh, no-nonsense culture. I wouldn't be surprised if they acquire Citicorp soon.

I know little in this arena, however, and own none, so don't mind my drivel.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
How is the 7% annualized inflation rate doing for you on that 80%?


What's the frequency of default on every financial fad? They seem to be spaced out pretty evenly. S&L, DOT.COM, etc..etc. Some few surely had a decent cue for grabbing a chair well before the music stopped.

 

[mechtech2]

A day and a half earlier, the B+S execs said it would never go below $80/ share. B+S shoud be [censored].

 

[1sttruck]

Long-Term Capital Management too. Who has had a good track record on preidcting these trends ?

This latest one shows just how much corruption there is in the 'free market' and the government agencies who are supposed to be overseeing everything, as who was doing a credible job of granting ratings for the institutions at risk ?

 

[oilyriser]

Corruption and miserable failure is supposed to be weeded out of the market, not bailed out or absorbed by everyone else who is not responsible for the failure. Pain is a good teacher, as is pleasure, but if you take away one, you take away the other as well, and learning stops.

You could say "buyer beware".

We need to start a countdown to the commodities collapse thread... and I bet oil companies will be getting bailout money in the next several years.

 

[Gary Allan]

Where's that whistling gremlin when I need him?

Sorry, this is way too ..hmmm..too much dark comedy