In the annals of Wall Street, it will simply be known as the $2 deal. That's the price tag on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s (NYSE: JPM) purchase for Bear Stearns Cos. (NYSE: BSC), which has a stated book value of $84 per share.

Interestingly enough, $2 seems like a stellar deal for Bear. Keep in mind that - according to a piece in the Wall Street Journal [a paid publication] - the firm was negotiating a buyout deal while it was also preparing a bankruptcy filing. Yep, in a bankruptcy, the equity holders usually wind up with zero, especially in the case with an entity that has high leverage ratios. Oh, and the Fed and Treasury Secretary wanted a deal to get done so as to save the financial system.

No doubt, the blame-game is in full force. But, I have a partial theory to explain the meltdown. That is, a key driver in the growth of Bear has been the Information Revolution. That is, it has allowed for the structuring of extremely complex investment structures (it's breathtaking some of the things that can be done to a simple mortgage note).

Continue reading Bear Stearns: Apocalypse Now

Bear Stearns: Apocalypse Now originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Countrywide Financial-(NYSE-CFC) Put volume & implied volatility Spikes on sell off. CFC, the largest U.S. home mortgage lender, is recently down $3.16 to $21.40. CFC call option volume of 98,035 contracts compares to put volume of 191,635 contracts. CFC September option implied volatility of 141 is above its 26-week average of 55 according to Track Data, indicating larger price fluctuations.

ExxonMobil-(NYSE-XOM) September implied volatility of 31 above 26-week average of 24. XOM is recently up .65 to $83.76. Crude oil futures are up 1.02% to $73.12 according to Bloomberg. XOM September option implied volatility of 31 is above its 26-week average of 24 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price fluctuations.

Continue reading Option update 8-15-07: Countrywide Financial (CFC) Put volume & implied volatility Spike

Option update 8-15-07: Countrywide Financial (CFC) Put volume & implied volatility Spike originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For those of you who haven't seen Jim Cramer's complete and utter meltdown on CNBC's Stop Trading!, you must watch it. It' a nice combination of hilarious and insane. It's hard to know whether he's acting insane on purpose. He seems legitimately angry.

Watching it got me to thinking about some of my other favorite meltdowns that can be found on YouTube. Here they are:

It's still real to me damnet!: The Crying Wrestling Fan

The Bears are who we thought they were -- And we let em' off the hook!

Don't ask me all these stupid-ass questions!

Cramer goes insane -- and my other favorite meltdowns originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.