European markets had opened close to balance on Monday morning. Pavel Bobrovskiy / stock.adobe.com
Investors remain under pressure, despite the measures taken by the American authorities to restore confidence in the American banking sector.
Financial markets are rocking strongly on Monday in the face of the risk of contagion in the global banking sector from bankruptcies that have occurred in the United States in recent days. Wall Street stabilized after opening sharply lower and two sessions of sharp decline: around 2:00 p.m. GMT, the Dow Jones index took 0.25%, the S&P 500 was stable (+0.03%) and the technological index Nasdaq fell 0.17%.
The European markets remained clearly in the red, but recovered after having lost more than 3% at the start of the afternoon: Paris and Frankfurt fell by 2.35% and 2.50%. London yielded 1.82% and Milan 3.56%, the largest declines since last summer. The debt market, perceived as safe haven investments in the event of a crisis, was also experiencing a turbulent session: certain government securities, in particular the short-term debt of the United States, posted historic declines.
Oil also suffered the blow, with falls of more than 4%. Investors remain feverish and prices volatile despite efforts to reassure the American authorities, in order to avoid contagion after the bankruptcy of three American banks. Americans cantrust“into a banking system”solid“, said President Joe Biden from the White House, assuring that he would “requisitesto keep it that way.
Read alsoBankruptcy of SVB: the American authorities want to put an end to the bank panic
On Sunday, the US authorities had already announced that the deposits of the bankrupt Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) would be fully guaranteed and the US Federal Reserve (Fed) pledged to lend the necessary funds to other banks. to honor withdrawal requests. “It’s not a federal bailout, but it does provide safeguards“, explains Alexandre Baradez, analyst of IG.
Confidence in American regional banks nevertheless seems broken after three bankruptcies in recent days, including that of Silicon Valley Bank. “Only big banks seem safe“, explains to AFP Lionel Melka, partner of Swann Capital. The Californian bank First Republic, which dropped 30% in two sessions, plunged 67% at the opening on Monday, and the Western Alliance 73%. For Gilles Gibout, of Axa IM, the episode “highlights the less direct impact of rising interest rates on banks“.
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Bright red sitting news for banks
On Friday, European banking stocks fell again on Monday, with an even more marked movement for banks perceived as less solid: Credit Suisse fell by 14.94%, reaching a new historic low point, while the German Commerzbank plunged by 14.43%, the French BNP Paribas and Société Générale by 5.41% and 6.17% and the Italian Unicredit by 9.98%.
HSBC, which lost 4.00%, announced Monday morning to buy the British branch of Silicon Valley Bank for one pound, which allows customers to “access their deposits and banking services normally“.
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TO HAVE ALSO – Bankruptcy of SVB: “There is no specific alert” in France, reassures Bruno Le Maire