主题：【原创】中信证券业绩跟踪2008/3/14 -- 老拙

Fed, JPMorgan Chase offer emergency aid to Bear Stearns

27 minutes ago

NEW YORK (AFP) — JPMorgan Chase on Friday said it was acting with the

Federal Reserve Bank of New York to provide emergency secured funding to

troubled US investment bank Bear Stearns for an initial period of up to 28

days.

The emergency funding will be available to Bear Stearns "as necessary,"

JPMorgan Chase said in a statement.

The Fed, through its discount window, will provide financing to JPMorgan

Chase. JPMorgan Chase said it did not believe this transaction exposes its

shareholders to "any material risk."

JPMorgan Chase said it was working closely with Bear Stearns on securing

permanent financing or other alternatives for the bank, which has been

battered by a global credit crunch and the US housing slump.

The Wall Street investment bank has sustained hundreds of millions of

dollars in losses in the mortgage-related credit crisis that erupted in

mid-2007.

Bear Stearns confirmed that it has agreed to a secured loan facility for up

to 28 days with JPMorgan Chase. The company said it was in talks with

JPMorgan about permanent financing or other alternatives.

The company said its liquidity position had "significantly deteriorated" in

the last 24 hours.

"Bear Stearns has been the subject of a multitude of market rumors

regarding our liquidity," said Alan Schwartz, the company's president and

chief executive.

"We have tried to confront and dispel these rumors and parse fact from

fiction. Nevertheless, amidst this market chatter, our liquidity position

in the last 24 hours had significantly deteriorated," he said.

"We took this important step to restore confidence in us in the

marketplace, strengthen our liquidity and allow us to continue normal

operations," the Bear Stearns executive said.

The company added that it cannot make any assurance that strategic

alternatives will be successfully completed.