Bear Stearns – pointers to some better coverage

I decided to post on this given the lack of quality coverage here.The Wall Street Journal has comprehensive coverage, but some of this may be subscription based, but I have linked anyway.

One comment perhaps is telling:-

Bear, although not one of the giants of Wall Street, long had a reputation as one of the most astute risk managers. It has a large mortgage business, but its mix of other businesses is less diverse than those of investment-banking rivals. That profile hurt Bear when the subprime-mortgage problems developed last spring. Two of Bear’s mortgage-related hedge funds collapsed in July, costing investors more than $1 billion and worsening the credit crunch then developing.

 

The WSJ coverage has detail on the vents and the reasons why the Federal Reserve acted as it did.

The Economist, one of my favourite journals, has a concise and clear article on the issue here. The Financial Times coverage can be accessed from here.

If the Federal Reserve and J. P. Morgan are unsuccessful the ramifications are frightening. The world financial systems are so interlinked! Concerns thus exist over a domino effect. For example the issues with 2 ING funds in NZ announced last week, plus difficulties emerging with regard to certain Carlyle Group funds.

There is a video at the FT which is worth a look, but you may have to register, which is free I think.