Bear Stearns credit default swaps tighten 35 basis points

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The cost of protecting Bear Stearns debt with credit default swaps fell on Monday following reports that JPMorgan is in talks to raise its offer for Bear Stearns five-fold.

Five-year credit default swaps on Bear Stearns tightened by about 35 basis points to 330 basis points, or $330,000 a year to protect $10 million of debt, according to data from Phoenix Partners Group.

JP Morgan may raise its takeover offer for Bear Stearns to about $10 a share, up from $2 a share, in an effort to appease Bear shareholders, a person briefed on the discussions said.

Credit protection costs on other brokers also fell.

Lehman Brothers' five-year credit default swaps tightened by about 20 basis points to about 250 basis points, Goldman Sachs' swaps tightened by about 10 basis points to about 140 basis points, Merrill Lynch's tightened by about 10 basis points to about 245 basis points, and Morgan Stanley's tightened by about 15 basis points to about 180 basis points, according to Phoenix Partners data.

(Reporting by Dena Aubin; Editing by James Dalgleish)