Bear Stearns: Timeline for the Tumultuous Week

Updated from 1:55 p.m. EDT

Bear Stearns(BSC Quote) on Friday said it had secured a short-term credit from the New York Federal Reserve through JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote).

That announcement capped off what has been a wild week for Bear Stearns. Below is a timeline covering the past few days:

Monday

Financials dive after the open as rumors fill the Street that Bear Stearns has a major liquidity issue.

At noon, Alan "Ace" Greenberg, Chairman of Bear Stearns' executive committee tells CNBC those liquidity issues are "totally ridiculous." The stock is down 10% on the day at that point, and then a Bear spokesman tells Bloomberg the same thing. The stock does not move.

At 5:00 p.m. EDT, a Bear press release cites President and CEO Alan Schwartz as saying "Bear Stearns' balance sheet, liquidity and capital remain strong."

Tuesday

The stock suffers another bloodying after influential bank analyst Dick Bove at Punk Ziegel cuts his price target on Bear to $45 from $67.

The liquidity rumors persist and the stock drops another 5% as Bear again publically denies any problems.

Wednesday

CEO Alan Schwartz goes live on CNBC telling David Faber that Bear's liquidity position has not changed and that the balance sheet has not weakened. Schwartz says it continues to have $17 billion or so sitting on the balance sheet at the parent, plus unpledged collateral at its subsidiaries.

Thursday

Despite the denials from Greenberg and Schwarz, the rumors persist and traders are seeking permission before acting in long-term transactions with Bear. A Wall Street Journal story says there is no actual proof that Bear faces a liquidity crisis, and executives insist that it isn't. Nonetheless, one analyst points out the mere fear of a crisis can be enough to overrun a firm.

Bear's CEO Didn't Lie

Friday

In today's premarket, JPMorgan and the New York Fed stun the market with a Bear Stearns bailout. In a press release Bear Stearns CEO Schwartz says in part "...our liquidity position in the last 24 hours had significantly deteriorated. We took this important step to restore confidence in us in the marketplace, strengthen our liquidity and allow us to continue normal operations."

Know What You Own: Bear Stearns operates in the financial services industry, and some of the other stocks in its field include Citigroup (C Quote), Goldman Sachs (GS Quote), Merrill Lynch (MER Quote), Morgan Stanley (MS Quote), Bank of America (BAC Quote) and Lehman Brothers (LEH Quote). These stocks were recently trading at ($19.66, -6.69%), ($156.63, -5.33%), ($43.23, -6.55%), ($39.11, -5.99%), ($35.57, -4.23%) and ($39.52, -14.07%) respectively. For more on the value of knowing what you own, visit TheStreet.com's Investing A-to-Z section.