Sacrificial Bear

On the day that Bear Stearns (BSC) was initially sold to JPMorgan (JPM) for $2/share, we mentioned that the firms with the ability to make it out of this mess would end up in better positions since they could snap up business from one of their major competitors.

Ever since Bear pretty much went under, major banks and brokers have come back quite a bit. While Lehman (LEH) is still down 29% on the year, Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Bank of America (BAC) and Merrill Lynch (MER) are now down less than 10% year to date, while Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPM are in positive territory.

As shown in the charts below, BSC has pretty much been the sacrificial lamb to keep Wall Street afloat.

click to enlarge

Comments

[Whisper On The Wind]

Close enough for me, anyway. Quick prayer of thanks that I never remembered to buy BSC... and that I did remember to get more JPM when they were low... and that I got some for the kids when it was even lower!