Wall Street Stumbles on Escalating Fears of Bank Contagion – Money Times

The main indicators of Wall Street It fell on Friday as investors fled risky assets on fears that contagion in the banking sector has not been completely averted, despite assurances from senior officials.

Chancellor of the Exchequer weAnd Janet YellenHe said on Thursday that measures would be taken to keep Americans’ deposits safe, but that did little to calm investor nerves about a liquidity crunch in the banking sector that could limit lending and tip the economy into a severe recession.

Yellen’s comments helped halt the stock’s decline in the previous session as she softened her stance since Wednesday, when she angered investors by saying that insurance of all bank deposits had not been considered.

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Balances of major US banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co And Wells Fargo that it American bank It fell between 1% and 2% at the start of negotiations.

Regional lenders First Republic Bank, PacWest Bancorp, Western Alliance Bancorp and Truist Financial Corp lost between 1% and 5%.

The S&P 500 Banking and KBW Regional Banking Indexes hit their lowest levels since late 2020 in the previous session, falling 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively.

Traders’ bets have now turned to a pause in US interest rate hikes in May after the Federal Reserve signaled caution about its next move amid the global banking crisis triggered by the failure of two regional banks.

At 11:37 (From Brasilia), Indicator Standard & Poor’s 500 (SPX) lost 0.71% at 3920.61 points, while losing Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) decreased by 0.39%, to 31,981.02 points. technology index NASDAQ Composite (US 100) decreased by 0.72% to 11,702.65 points.

(updated at 11:48 am)