10 days that shook Wall Street

The implosion of Bear Stearns was nothing if not stunning for its sheer speed. Fortune offers an interesting reconstruction of the final 10 days. It still amazes me how the bank could go from not commenting on rumors to a deal for $2 a share in so little time. The fall was aided by a Goldman Sachs move to no longer back certain Bear derivatives. That opened the floodgates, with hedge funds and other clients wanting out, fast. Alan Schwartz, in addition to calling JP Morgan Chase's Jamie Dimon, was reduced to pleading with a hedge fund manager to appear on CNBC to attest to the strength of Bear; the manager declined. By then it was too late. Hopefully, we'll hear more specifics about this soon.  

For more:
- here's the Fortune article

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