Bear Stearns reports first quarterly loss

Bear Stearns, the major U.S. investment bank, reported on Thursday its first quarterly loss ever in its eight-decade history due to the mortgage crisis.

Bear Stearns said it lost about 854 million U.S. dollars, or 6.90 dollars a share, for the fourth quarter, compared with a profit of 563 million dollars, or 4 dollars a share, in the period a year earlier.

Bear Stearns also said it had written down 1.9 billion dollars of its holdings in mortgages and mortgage-based securities, up from the 1.2 billion dollars it had anticipated last month.

"We are obviously upset with our 2007 results, particularly in light of the fact that weakness in fixed income more than offset strong and, in some areas, record-setting performance in other businesses," James E. Cayne, Bear Stearns' chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

As a result of its disastrous results, Bear Stearns said its management will not receive bonuses this year.