JPMorgan TARP warrants fetch $10.75

JPMorgan Chase & Co warrants held by the US Treasury Department sold for $936.1 million, less than some traders predicted, closing out the federal bailout programme’s stake in the New York-based lender. The Treasury drew $10.75 each for 88.4 million of the securities in the second auction of warrants held by the Troubled Asset Relief Programme, the agency said today in a statement. Nomura Securities International Inc trader Bernard Chriqui, who expected a price of at least $12, said he may lower his forecasts for the pending sale of Bank of America Corp warrants. “These results could be telling for the upcoming BAC auctions, should they take place,” Chriqui, Nomura’s vice president of equity derivatives trading, wrote in an e-mail. The Treasury sought to get higher prices for TARP warrants after a Congressional report found that some were sold back to banks for about 66 per cent of their fair value. JPMorgan’s warrants sold for 34 per cent more than the minimum bid of $8, and the sale was oversubscribed, said Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams.