BENWEEWEE (finance content)

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we interrupt this bear market rally with news of an investment bank blowup.

BSC at $35, down $22.

Bear Stearns Gets Emergency Bailout From JPMorgan, New York Fed

By Yalman Onaran


March 14 (Bloomberg) -- Bear Stearns Cos. obtained emergency funding from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the New York Federal Reserve as the securities firm said its cash position had ``significantly deteriorated.''

The New York Fed will ``provide non-recourse, back-to- back'' financing for up to 28 days, JPMorgan said in a statement today. Bear Stearns said it was in talks with the New York-based bank ``regarding permanent funding or other alternatives.''

Bear Stearns plummeted $11.90, or 20.8 percent, to $45.10 at 9:54 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the lowest level in more than six years. The shares are down more than 50 percent this year.

Chief Executive Officer Alan Schwartz said in a statement that the firm acted in response to ``market rumors'' of a liquidity crisis. He had denied this week that the firm faced a cash shortage, saying the company's ``liquidity cushion'' was sufficient to weather the credit-market contraction.

``We have tried to confront and dispel these rumors and parse fact from fiction,'' Schwartz sad in the New York-based company's statement today. ``Nevertheless, amidst this market chatter, our liquidity position in the last 24 hours had significantly deteriorated.''

``The issue now is whether Bear Stearns customers will stick around,'' said Bruce Foerster, president of South Beach Capital Markets and a former Wall Street executive. ``Some others have gotten through the same kind of troubles, some ended up being shut down or sold. I'm hoping Bear can get past it.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Yalman Onaran in New York at yonaran@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 14, 2008 09:55 EDT