What If There Was a Run on a Bank, and Nobody Came?

Except the Fed, of course!

What does it say about us that there was a run on Bear Stearns over the past few days, and the stock market shot higher? Do the words, "irrational exuberance" come to mind?

Bombshell: Fed Rescues Bear Stearns

Using its new $200 billion collateral window pre-emptively for mortgage-backed securities, the Fed and JP Morgan Chase has stepped into the financial markets to rescue Bear Stearns from a liquidity crisis. This has turned the positive sentiment following the flat CPI data into a financial crisis literally within less than an hour, and has turned market sentiment once again within an hour. The nagging question hanging over the market now is, "Who else?" What other investment banking firm is going to be faced with a liquidity crisis in the next few days or weeks?