Despite the banking crisis, the S & P 500 is actually higher than it was the day before Silicon Valley Bank's troubles dragged the banking sector down. Crisis causes Fed to 'grip the wheel' The bank crisis is also seemingly affecting the Federal Reserve 's policy of raising interest rates, experts said. Yet on Wednesday, the Fed announced a 25 percentage point increase , while expressing caution about the banking crisis. "The banking crisis basically caused the Fed to grip the wheel with two hands and take a more cautious approach to its rate tightening policy," Stovall said. "Other areas of the economy, including larger companies who may maintain access to bank credit and public markets (and perhaps consumer relative to commercial borrowers) might then escape with less negative impacts," he said.

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