Shares in Bear Stearns continued their sharp decline on Thursday as investors grew increasingly worried about the investment bank’s exposure to Carlyle Capital and other troubled investment funds. The fear is that Bear will end up seizing collateral in the form of MBS from Carlyle and other funds that it will then be unable to sell, adding fresh losses to writedowns it has already taken on its own mortgage-related holdings. Bear shares, which are down nearly 40% this year, fell as much as 17% in early trade before recovering to $54.64 at midday in New York.
Could they be an American Northern Rock?