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☆ Stock markets nervous about Fed pivot and banking sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"The Fed decision was widely expected, so it didn't provide much of a shock to financial markets," Tina Teng, market analyst at CMC Markets, in Auckland. "However, I think the whole economic playout is not positive, especially the recent banking rout from the regional banks, and those big banks taking over the smaller banks. It's not a good sign, and risks are spreading out into the wider banking system, which worries investors." E-mini futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.22%, reflecting the dramatic slide in regional banking shares after the close of U.S. markets. The Fed is trying to indicate a direction, and the market is looking further down the path than the Fed's willing to communicate."

☆ Western Alliance says no unusual deposit outflows after First Republic sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A screen displays the logo and trading info for Western Alliance Bancorporation on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., March 14, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidMay 3 (Reuters) - Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL.N) said on Wednesday it had not experienced unusual deposit outflows following the sale of collapsed lender First Republic Bank to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N), as the U.S. regional bank sought to reassure investors. Phoenix-based Western Alliance said its total deposits were $48.8 billion as of Tuesday, up from $48.2 billion as of Monday. The statement from Western Alliance came after reports that PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) was exploring strategic options including a sale or capital raising. The news sent shares of several regional lenders tumbling in after-market trading, led by a 52% plunge at PacWest and 23% decline at Western Alliance.

☆ Dollar falls after Fed signals pause; banking woes dent confidence
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Rae Wee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Additional tightening may be needed ... but the FOMC does not appear to be pre-committing to another rate hike on June 14." The U.S. dollar index was last 0.12% lower at 101.11, after dropping more than 0.6% in the previous session. "There are a lot of concerns in the U.S. around the banking sector and the crunch on credit. "So I think central banks, including the Fed, are at or very near the peak in their cash rates." The European Central Bank (ECB) comes under the spotlight next, where expectations are for ECB policymakers to raise interest rates for the seventh meeting in a row later on Thursday.

As each domino falls, the next weakest bank begins to wobble," billionaire investor Bill Ackman wrote in a tweet. PacWest stock has lost almost 90% of its value since the regional banking crisis started on March 8. Zion Bancorporation (ZION.O), Comerica (CMA.N) and First Horizon (FHN.N) each slumped more than 7% and the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE.P) dropped 5%. The cost of insuring against further losses in regional U.S. bank stocks stood on Wednesday near a one-month high in options markets. On Wednesday a source said the lender was looking at options that include a potential sale or capital raise.

☆ PacWest tumbles on weighing options, other U.S. regional bank stocks fall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. regional banks fell premarket on Thursday, hurt by a 37% slump in PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) after its announcement about exploring strategic options spurred market concerns of a worsening banking crisis. Zion Bancorporation (ZION.O), KeyCorp (KEY.N), Valley National Bancorp (VLY.O), Comerica (CMA.N) and First Horizon (FHN.N) dropped between 2% and 6%. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE.P) shed 2.8%. The slide in shares of PacWest and its peers highlights uncertainty around the health of regional banks despite regulatory efforts to call an end to the banking crisis that started with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March. PacWest Bancorp reported a loss of $1.1 billion attributed to shareholders for the first quarter of the year.

First Horizon and TD said in a statement they had mutually decided to end the deal because there was no clarity on when they would get regulatory approvals. TD will pay $200 million to First Horizon, in addition to a $25 million fee reimbursement. 2 lender came under pressure from some investors to scrap the purchase after the U.S. regional banking crisis. TD agreed to buy First Horizon in February last year to expand its presence in the United States. Average deposits at First Horizon fell 4% to $62.2 billion in the first quarter, compared to the end of last year.

☆ Cathie Wood says the credit crunch is going to get much more serious than most are expecting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Cathie Wood thinks a credit crunch is underway, and it's going to get much worse from here. The Ark Invest chief told TD Wealth on Wednesday that customer deposits are still leaving regional banks and going into Treasury funds, limiting the ability for banks to potentially produce loans in the future. So, "we have a feeling that we've started in the early stages of a credit crunch that is going to be much more serious than I think most are expecting." Wood cited the downward trajectory of the SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF ( KRE ) as a basis to forecast a continued deposit outflows from regional banks. On Thursday, European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said tighter credit conditions would similarly weaken further bank lending.

☆ Short sellers reap $378.9 mln from losses in PacWest, two other bank stocks - Ortex
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Short sellers made $378.9 million in paper profits betting against regional banks First Horizon Corp (FHN.N), PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) and Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL.N) in Thursday's session, analytics firm Ortex said. PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) dove 57% on Thursday, dragging down other regional lenders, after the Los Angeles-based bank said it was in talks about strategic options. Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL.N) denied a report from the Financial Times that said it was exploring a potential sale. Over the first two days of May, short sellers made $1.2 billion from declines in stocks of U.S. regional lenders, according to Ortex. Short sellers typically sell borrowed securities and aim to buy these back at a lower price to pocket the difference.

☆ Western Alliance latest US bank to explore sale, Financial Times reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 4 (Reuters) - Western Alliance (WAL.N) is exploring strategic options including a potential sale of all or part of its business, the Financial Times reported on Thursday citing two people briefed on the matter. The Arizona-based bank has hired advisers to explore its options, the report added, saying the bank's deliberations were at an early stage and might not come to anything. Shares in Western Alliance had fallen 45% in volatile trading before being halted. Three U.S. regional banks have failed in the last two months, spurring widespread worries about the sector's stability and deepened concerns about lenders as nervous clients moved their money to bigger financial institutions. PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) also said late on Wednesday it was in talks with potential partners and investors about strategic options.

☆ Factbox: PacWest Bancorp, US regional lender in spotlight
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here are some details about the bank:* PacWest is a community bank focused on providing business banking and treasury management services to small, middle-market, and venture-backed businesses. PacWest's market value has now fallen to $772 million after its shares tumbled 72% this year. * According to data from the U.S. Federal Reserve, PacWest was the 53rd largest U.S. bank, as of Dec 31. * As of March 31, the lender held total deposits of $28.2 billion and total assets of $44.3 billion. Meanwhile, total insured deposits, which have come into focus since the crisis, were about 75% of total deposits as of May 2.

May 5 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. An investor going long mega U.S. tech shares and short regional banks on January 1 would be doing well today. Yet Asian markets, stocks at least, have been fairly unruffled. If Asian markets get a steer from local events on Thursday, it will most likely come from China's services PMI. The bar for beating the previous month is high - the last time services sector activity in China grew faster than March was almost three years ago.

In theory, that should be welcome news for stocks and other so-called risk assets, which wilted under the barrage of hikes last year. Yet some investors worry this year's 6.5% rebound in the S&P 500 has made equities expensive. Many are also wary that the Fed's rate hikes may precipitate a recession later this year. Stocks fell on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 ending down 0.7%, after the Fed's latest policy decision in which the central bank also raised rates by 25 basis points, as markets expected. Friday's U.S. employment report and next week's consumer price index data may give investors a sense of how deeply the Fed's rate hikes have seeped into the economy.

☆ Factbox: Short sellers rake in $1.2 bln in profits as US regional bank stocks suffer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

May 3 (Reuters) - Short sellers have pocketed $1.2 billion in paper profits betting against U.S. regional lenders in the first two days of May, analytics firm Ortex said, as the third major regional bank failure in two months sparked a selloff in the sector. U.S. regulators seized First Republic Bank and sold most of its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Monday in a $10.6 billion deal. Here is a list of companies that generated the most profits for short sellers on May 1 and May 2:Source: Ortex dataCompiled by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Edited by Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ 'Self-fulfilling prophecy is a risk' in regional bank crisis, Evercore ISI says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Regional bank stocks have fallen sharply this week after the failure and sale of First Republic, with the SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) tumbling 8.9% in just two days, on Monday and Tuesday. KRE 5D mountain Regional bank stocks have fallen after First Republic's failure. But even if the immediate concerns have been put to rest, now the falling bank stocks could create a new round of issues, according to Evercore ISI. ... regional banks' troubles are earnings issues for most, rather than liquidity issues," Pancari said. He added that "select regionals appear oversold," highlighting Fifth Third Bancorp as one of Evercore ISI's favorite mid-sized banks.

☆ Indian rupee headed higher on weak dollar, fall in US yields; Fed awaited
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Nimesh Vora | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, May 3 (Reuters) - Indian rupee is expected to open higher on Wednesday, boosted by a broad decline on the U.S. dollar and plunge in yields amid worries over the U.S. banking sector. Non-deliverable forwards indicate the rupee will open at around 81.76-81.80 to the dollar compared to 81.88 in the previous session. The rupee reached 81.7225 on Tuesday, before dollar bids by public sector banks, probably for the Reserve Bank of India, prompted it to reverse course. The U.S. Federal Reserve will most likely raise rates by 25 basis points later in the day, interest rate futures indicate. Investors will be eyeing the U.S. central bank's forward guidance to assess the path ahead for interest rates.

☆ Stock futures fall after the Federal Reserve hikes rates and bank contagion fears return: Live updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Stock futures fell after the Federal Reserve hiked rates by another 25 basis points and investors' fears of contagion in the regional bank space returned. S&P 500 futures shed 0.46%. Regional bank shares sold off hard, with Western Alliance tumbling nearly 30% and Zions Bancorporation dropping nearly 12%. Since the closure of Silicon Valley Bank in March, First Republic has joined the ranks of failed institutions and was recently taken over by JPMorgan Chase. "I believe with a very high degree of probability there's going to be further regional bank failures."

☆ Stocks slide into Fed mode, shorts stalk banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Overnight, tumbling regional bank stocks (.KRX) dragged the S&P 500 (.SPX) down 1.2% and oil dived more than 5% on fears that shaky bank confidence and signs of weakness in the U.S. job market were harbingers of a looming broader slowdown. Bonds rallied as investors reckoned the Federal Reserve, which sets policy later on Wednesday, will soon be switching from rate hikes to cuts. Among banks, PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O), down 27.8%, Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL.N), down 15.1%, and Comerica Inc (CMA.N) down 12.4%, were the biggest losers. If that happens, focus will be on whether or how hard Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushes back on investors' expectations for rate cuts by year's end. The Australian dollar has given back some of the ground gained on Tuesday, following a surprise rate hike from the central bank, and sat at $0.6670.

May 4 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. The Fed on Wednesday delivered what markets are convinced will be the last rate hike of the cycle, bond yields and the dollar fell, yet investors are rattled. But the tone will be set by the fallout from the Fed. They rose as much as 3% in early trade, recouping some of the previous two days' heavy losses. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ US regional bank stocks fall for second day as First Republic failure weighs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of major U.S. regional banks fell further on Tuesday in the aftermath of the collapse of First Republic Bank (FRC.N), the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. Investors are still concerned that the crisis started by the closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March could engulf other mid-sized lenders. Shares of PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) tumbled nearly 30%, while Western Alliance Bank (WAL.N) and KeyCorp (KEY.N) fell 21% and 10%, respectively. Some investors are also concerned about the long-term impact of the JPMorgan deal, which risks worsening the "too-big-to-fail" problem regulators have been trying to solve for years. Reporting by Niket Nishant and Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ US regional banks fall as FRC failure shakes faith in banking sector recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 2 (Reuters) - Shares of major U.S. regional banks fell further on Tuesday in the aftermath of the collapse of First Republic Bank (FRC.N), the largest U.S. bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis. The sell-off pushed the KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) 5.2% down to its lowest since November 2020. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) on Monday bought a majority of First Republic Bank's assets. "First Republic bank failure means unfortunately that the other 'so called' troubled regional banks should probably continue to sleep with one eye open." Reporting by Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat, Niket Nishant and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The combined position fell to 447 million barrels (23rd percentile for all weeks since 2013) down from 534 million barrels (38th percentile) seven days earlier. Funds sold the equivalent of 99 billion cubic feet over the seven days ending on April 25, after buying a net total of 1,287 billion cubic feet in the previous eight weeks. The position slipped to 12 billion cubic feet net short (31st percentile for all weeks since 2006) from 87 billion cubic feet net long (34th percentile) a week earlier. Stocks were 280 billion cubic feet (+16% or +0.61 standard deviations) above the prior ten-year seasonal average on April 21, up from a deficit of 263 billion cubic feet (-8% or -0.98 standard deviations) on Jan. 1. Related columns:- Oil market has absorbed surprise production cut by OPEC⁺ (April 26, 2023)- Oil buying slows amid renewed concerns about economy (April 24, 2023)- Oil prices stall as short-covering rally is completed (April 17, 2023)John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst.

May 3 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets from Jamie McGeever. The U.S. regional banking index tanked 5.5% on Tuesday, its biggest fall since the depths of the crisis in mid-March. This may play into Malaysian policymakers' thinking as they prepare to deliver their latest interest rate decision on Wednesday. But that's what Asian markets will be waking up to on Thursday. Before that on Wednesday they have the Malaysian rate decision, services PMI data from Australia and India, and South Korean FX reserves to offer local direction.

☆ The British Coronation: A TV Spectacle, Now for the Digital Age
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Alan Cowell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Some members of the British hierarchy wished to keep cameras out of the inner sanctum of Westminster Abbey, where the queen was crowned. “The world would have been a happier place if television had never been discovered,” the Most Rev. Geoffrey F. Fisher, then the archbishop of Canterbury, who presided over the queen’s coronation, was quoted as saying. Where his mother’s crowning bathed the monarchy in uncontested splendor, Charles’s challenge is to focus a much more diffuse spotlight. While Elizabeth’s coronation required only around 20 cameras, Charles’s crowning is set to be broadcast on the BBC’s hi-definition iPlayer streaming service, alongside television coverage.

☆ IMF's Georgieva says more vulnerabilities in banking sector may be exposed
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEVERLY HILLS, California (Reuters) -International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday she expects more weaknesses to be exposed in the banking sector, only hours after First Republic Bank was rescued by JPMorgan Chase . Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, speaks at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mike BlakeSpeaking at the 2023 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, Georgieva immediately addressed the biggest topic of the day - the banking crisis that has been unnerving investors for weeks. “Recent events continue to remind us of the challenges posed by the interaction between tighter monetary and financial conditions and the buildup in vulnerabilities in the global financial system,” a spokesperson said. The IMF last month trimmed its 2023 global growth outlook slightly as higher interest rates cooled activity but warned that a severe flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near-recessionary levels.

☆ Explainer: Why First Republic Bank failed and what JPMorgan's deal means
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lawrence Delevingne | Thomson Reuters | Delevingne Works Primarily On Enterprise Stories Related To Finance. He Joined Reuters In | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

May 1 (Reuters) - The focus of the U.S. regional banking crisis turned on First Republic Bank in late March after the wealthy clients it courted to fuel its breakneck growth began pulling their deposits. The failure of First Republic, which said last week it had first-quarter outflows of more than $100 billion, marks the demise of a third major U.S. bank in just two months, after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank . Merrill Lynch acquired the bank in 2007 but First Republic was listed on the stock market again in 2010 after being sold by Merrill's new owner, Bank of America. WHAT THE JPMORGAN DEAL MEANSJPMorgan said that under its deal First Republic's 84 offices in eight U.S. states would reopen as branches of JPMorgan Chase Bank from Monday, so customers of the failed bank will be dealing with the giant financial group instead. The biggest U.S. bank will get even bigger as a result of the deal for most of First Republic's assets.

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