March 15, 2023 Global stocks and banking news

You may hear economists and market analysts reference "moral hazard" when discussing the past weekend's rescue of two US banks, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature.

"Moral hazard" is somewhat academic shorthand for the idea that banks (or other entities) will take on more risk if they believe that they will ultimately be bailed out.

For example, some argue that SVB should have been allowed to fail — that the pain of the fallout would outweigh the downsides of customers losing their money and startups going out of business. Of course, others note that the risk of letting the 16th-largest US bank collapse, and potentially letting its tech industry customers also fail, could have far-reaching and potentially devastating consequences.

Credit Suisse on Wednesday said it would borrow 50 billion Swiss Francs ($53.7 billion) from the Swiss National Bank, hours after the central bank said it was ready to provide financial support after shares in the country's second biggest lender crashed as much as 30%.

"Credit Suisse is taking decisive action to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity," the bank said in a statement.

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told CNN that despite scary headlines, now is not the time for consumers to panic.

"I don't think this is a time for panic or alarm," Summers said. "This is not 2008, where people needed to be worried about where they could get their money...It absolutely is not that."

"Americans' money is safe," he said.

Is the banking sector in the same situation as the one that triggered the 2008 financial crisis?

That's what a viewer from Fenton, Missouri, asked the CNN panel of business experts tonight during a CNN primetime special on the banking crisis.

CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans said no.

However, Romans noted that "the verdict is out on the controversy about whether some of these smaller banks were allowed to not partake in all of the Dodd-Frank regulations, and maybe that left them more exposed."

Some context: Those regulations laid out stricter rules for the banking industry, though small and mid-sized banks — those with assets below $250 billion, like SVB — were exempted from some of the rigorous capital requirements applied to larger institutions, and from the obligation to undergo tests of their ability to withstand financial stress by the Federal Reserve each year.

CNN's Anna Cooban contributed to this report.

Switzerland's central bank said Wednesday it was ready to provide financial support to Credit Suisse after shares in the country's second biggest lender crashed as much as 30%. 

In a joint statement with the Swiss financial market regulator FINMA, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) said Credit Suisse (CS) met the "strict capital and liquidity requirements" imposed on banks of importance to the wider financial system. 

"If necessary, the SNB will provide CS with liquidity," they said.

Already on edge after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States last week, investors dumped shares in the embattled Swiss bank earlier in the day, sending them plummeting to a new record low after its biggest backer appeared to rule out providing any more funding.

In their statement, the Swiss authorities said that the problems of "certain banks in the USA do not pose a direct risk of contagion for the Swiss financial markets."

"There are no indications of a direct risk of contagion for Swiss institutions due to the current turmoil in the US banking market," the statement continued. 

Stocks closed mostly lower on Wednesday as investors grappled with the crash of Credit Suisse stock and how the fallout could affect global and domestic markets.

Troubles at the systemically important Swiss lender come as markets struggled to make sense of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The Swiss National Bank said Wednesday said that it will provide Credit Suisse with liquidity if necessary, after shares tumbled as much as 30%.

Shares of the bank closed down 24%.

Major US banks continued to get hammered. Shares of Wells Fargo fell 3.2%. JPMorgan Chase stock dropped 4.7%.

The Dow fell roughly 280 points, or 0.87%.

The S&P 500 fell about 0.7%.

The Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.05%.

Nervous bank customers have rushed to the safety of big banks in the wake of a pair of high-profile bank failures that have shaken confidence in the system.

Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup have all experienced a significant increase in deposits since Silicon Valley Bank ran into trouble last week, people familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Small and regional banks have suffered deposit outflows, though a senior Treasury official told CNN earlier this week that those customer withdrawals have eased.

The situation is fluid and it's not clear just how much money has been plowed into big banks, though the sum is likely to be in the billions or tens of dollars. 

Stocks remained down Wednesday afternoon as deepening troubles in the banking sector continued to roil markets.

The Dow was down 350 points, or just over 1%. The S&P 500 slipped by 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.8%.

Shares of Swiss lender Credit Suisse tumbled over 20% after its biggest shareholder said it wouldn't increase funding in the bank, setting off fears about the strength of one of the world's biggest financial institutions. This comes just days after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank sent Wall Street into a frenzy. 

It remains unclear how the two banks' collapses, and now the crash in Credit Suisse's stock, will affect global and US markets as well as the economy.

The CME FedWatch Tool shows that traders see a roughly 45% probability that the Fed won't raise interest rates at its meeting next week. Traders saw a 55% probability of a quarter-point rate hike.

CNN's Fear & Greed Index was at 18, indicating extreme fear in the market. That shows more fear has entered the market since this morning, when the index clocked in at 22.

Shares of US banks also continued their descent. Wells Fargo stock fell 4.8%. Shares of JPMorgan Chase were down 5.1%.

The bond market has seen heightened volatility as the turmoil in the banking sector roils the equity market. The ICE BofA MOVE Index, which measures volatility in the bond market, surged to levels last seen during the onset of the Covid pandemic in March 2020.

Bond yields fell Wednesday as skittish investors shaken by banking fears sought refuge in safe holdings.

The 2-year Treasury yield on Monday saw its biggest one-day drop since October 1987's Black Monday, and continued its descent on Wednesday. Long-term Treasury yields also fell.

European markets have closed sharply lower as bank stocks across the continent plunged, led by Credit Suisse. Shares in Credit Suisse, one of Switzerland’s biggest banks, crashed more than 20% on Wednesday after its biggest shareholder appeared to rule out providing any more funding for the embattled Swiss lender.

The sell-off spilled over into other European banking shares, with French and German banks such as BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank falling between 8% and 12%. 

In the UK the FTSE 100 ended the day more than 3.5% lower, France’s CAC 40 and the German Xetra Dax both closed more than 3% down.