Immediately following the announcement the Dow spiked up almost 200 points....only to subsequently sell off and finish near its lows for the day. Not quite sure what to make of that action quite yet.....
Jiffy, the action was a little more interesting than that.....the Dow had been meandering around the 12450 level all day off 30 from the prior close until the Fed release at 2:10 eastern. In the 20 minutes immediately following the release, the Dow spiked up 170 to 12620 or so....traders took a little breather and sold into the rally to bring the average down 100 points or so before another round of buying took it to new highs on the day up almost 200 points by 3:10 or an hour after the release.....from 3:10 till the close we lost the 200 plus but did manage to finish above the lows on the day.....alot of fresh economic data this week. We'll see what happens tomorrow....I expect alot of volatility as there is widespread disagreement between alot of smart people with a whole lot of money who are ready, willing and able to bet their views.....good stuff. God Bless America! :wink:
Jiffy? Where are you my man? I'm surprised we have not heard from you given the gyrations of this market? Fun stuff huh??? :wink:
Jif needs to have smelling salts handy when he views the financial news of the day. BTW: What's your take on the Bear-Sterns deal? Would it have resulted in a domino effect on other Investment Banks if they hadn't been bailed out? Why was J.P.Morgan in such a good position to absorb them?
The Bear Stearns deal was a good one for all concerned imho....good for the capital markets in that it eliminated the possibility of a potentially disasterous liquidity crisis amongst the primary dealer firms and resulting market meltdown. Good for JPM in that they got what appears to be a fine value, good for Bear shareholders in that the alternatives for them were bankruptcy and good for the US taxpayers in that it provided a needed degree of market stability and confidence without the expenditure of public monies....note the price action in Bear stock (BSC) since the deal. JPM is one of a very few firms with the depth of resources - both economic and managerial - capable of absorbing Bear and dealing with the issues confronting them. In addition, imho, for those with a historical bent, the Morgan firm has long been associated with strength and confidence in the financial system going back to the days of Pierpont himself when he appeared at the entrance of the exchange as the head of a syndicate that provided much needed liquidity for a bailout of the market during an early 20th century panic. The House of Morgan to the rescue once again......
I see the price of the Bear-Stearns stock has gone up to almost 7$, is JPM locked in at the 2$ level or will they now have to pay more?
In this transaction, as in most transactions of any size, JPM is buying BSC with JPM stock. JPM is giving BSC shareholders JPM stock in exchange for BSC stock. Specifically, for each BSC share they own, shareholders will receive 0.05473 shares of JPM stock. So, if you own a thousand shares of Bear, Stearns, you will receive 54 shares of JPM plus cash for the fractions. Therefore, the $ value BSC shareholders will receive will move in lock-step with changes in JPM share price, but in actuality, JPM is still providing the same amount of consideration or the same amount of ownership interest/number of shares in the combined firm, it's just valued more highly in dollar terms as a result of market moves...clear as mud right?