The business stories that matter, by Fortune's Colin Barr
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March 16, 2008, 9:19 pm

Stocks swoon despite Bear deal

JPMorgan Chase’s (JPM) $270 million agreement to purchase Bear Stearns (BSC) failed to ease the fears sweeping financial markets Sunday evening. Stocks swooned 3% in Japan and 2% in South Korea as investors sold assets of all sorts in a bid to raise cash. Futures markets indicated U.S. stocks will open sharply lower Monday morning, in the wake of the Bear deal and the Fed’s latest effort to unlock short-term credit markets. The dollar dropped below 97 yen and gold touched $1,023 an ounce. Crude oil traded above $110 a barrel.

Bear’s failure - a sale at $2 a share, with Fed backing, amounts to little more than an orderly liquidation - will also have investors wondering what heavily leveraged financial firm will come under attack next. Two early candidates: Lehman Brothers (LEH), which fell 13% Friday, and Washington Mutual (WM), which was off 12%.

SELL YOUR STOCKS, THE CARNAGE IS JUST BEGINNING NOT ENDING AS CNBC TELLS US. ITS GOING TO GET MUCH WORSE BEFORE IT GETS BETTER, FOR YEARS NOT FOR MONTHS OR JUST WEEKS, ONCE AGAIN AS CNBC TELLS US

Posted By Craig,Rochester, NY : March 17, 2008 4:58 am

let the games commence, who is next.

Posted By Joe Rudd : March 16, 2008 11:20 pm

I would hang every person associated with this most corrupt deal tomorrow. That includes the Fed Gov, Wallstreet, and Bankers

Posted By bill, pa : March 16, 2008 10:11 pm

The SEC needs to put alot of people in jail tomorrow starting with Ben Bernake and the entire Fed, the Ceo of Bear Sterns, and all of JPM! This is a f-disgrace. America died tonight. People all over have lost everything because of the crooks on Wallstreet and at the FED Gov!

Posted By dave, tx : March 16, 2008 9:28 pm
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Colin Barr covers business and finance for Fortune.com. Previously he was an editor at TheStreet.com and author of the weekly Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street column, and an editor at Dow Jones Newswires.
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