The Subprime Mess Claims Its First Blue Chip Victim

JPMorgan Chase announced today that it will acquire Bear Stearns for $2 a share today. On Friday, Bear Stearns' stock price closed at $30.00 on Friday, already down close to half over its Thursday close and 81% down from its high for the last year of $159.36.

Bear Stearns, a major investment banking, securities trading, and asset management company and a Wall Street institution was forced on Friday to accept a loan package from JPMorgan Chase and the US Federal Reserve System on Friday. This loan from the Fed represents the first time the Fed had bailed out a non-bank financial institution since the Great Depression.

The plot thickens.