US bank Bear Stearns has reported the first quarterly loss in its history.
The figures capped a financial year when the fifth-largest US investment bank took a beating on bad bets on risky sub-prime mortgages.
Bear Stearns reported a net loss of $854m, or $6.90 a share, for the quarter to the end of November. That compared with a profit of $563m a year earlier.
Yesterday the second-biggest US investment bank Morgan Stanley posted a net loss of $3.6 billion in its fourth quarter after a bigger than expected $9.4 billion of write-downs.
