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29 March 2024

Bear Stearns bailout may be 'turning point': Fischer

Published
By Agencies

The rescue of Bear Stearns may mark a "turning point" in the ongoing turmoil in financial markets, Bank of Israel Governor and former international financier Stanley Fischer said in an interview published Monday.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Fischer said that the Federal Reserve's intervention to help the investment bank before a takeover by JPMorgan Chase was agreed was "done very well and very decisively."

"It is not over," Fischer, a former vice chairman of Citigroup -- one of the largest financial groups in the world -- and a top official at the International Monetary Fund, said of the crisis in the markets.

"There will be more occasions when we think that the world is going to go to hell in a handbasket. But for the first time since last summer it is clear that the authorities are beginning to contain the financial sector crisis in the US."

Fischer added that he thought in future central banks should be doing more to contain "asset price bubbles", including stock prices. (AFP)