Wall Street Rattled by 15% Tumble in Pair of Banks: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Just a day after Wall Street breathed a sigh of relief with the rescue of First Republic Bank, a selloff in US regional lenders fueled renewed anxiety over financial stability, sinking stocks across the board and spurring a flight to the safest corners of the market.

For many traders, the timing couldn’t be worse. 

On the eve of the Federal Reserve decision, multiple volatility halts in PacWest Bancorp and Western Alliance Bancorp were seen as disturbing. Both shares were down at least 15%. The financial industry weighed heavily on the S&P 500, which sank almost 2% at one point before trimming losses.

Bearish hedge-fund traders were present in the bout of selling that erupted Tuesday and later prompted long-only investors to sell too, according to a note from John Flood, a partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

“Wall Street is quickly hitting the sell button as banking turmoil appears it is not going away anytime soon,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “Risk appetite did not stand a chance as traders focused on lingering doubts over the regional banks, rising recession odds, and growing risks that the US could default on its debt next month.”

All of these factors combined are only deepening a sense of uneasiness among investors about the Fed’s conundrum.

In addition to the financial strains stemming from bank failures, officials remain caught between stubbornly high inflation and data pointing to an economic downturn — such as Tuesday’s JOLTS record of job openings that fell to lowest in nearly two years.

Debt Ceiling

To make matters worse, there’s brewing angst over the US debt ceiling — which only adds to the whole discussion on whether the Fed should pause after hiking in May to prevent a more severe economic recession.

While swaps are still pricing in a quarter-point Fed rate increase on Wednesday, traders trimmed their bets on a subsequent hike — while amping up wagers on cuts before the year is over.

With all those elements in play, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that bonds got heavily bid Tuesday — especially after the selloff of the previous session. Two-year rates, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, plunged as much as 21 basis points to below 4%.

Meantime, Treasury bill yields for June topped 5% in the wake of a warning from Janet Yellen that the US government could run into debt-ceiling limitations as soon as the start of next month.

Corporate Highlights:

• Morgan Stanley said it’s in talks with US prosecutors and regulators to resolve a probe into its block trading practices.
• Starbucks Corp. posted sales that beat estimates as US and China transactions increased.
• Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the second-largest maker of computer processors, gave a lackluster sales forecast for the current period as it struggles to bounce back from a severe PC slowdown.
• Ford Motor Co., beat profit estimates, posting a surprisingly strong gain on higher vehicle pricing and increased sales volumes.

Key events this week:

• ADP employment, S&P global US services PMI, ISM services, Wednesday
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell holds news conference following rate decision, Wednesday
• US initial jobless claims, trade balance, Thursday
• European Central Bank rate decision, followed by ECB President Christine Lagarde’s news conference, Thursday
• US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 fell 1.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%
• The MSCI World index fell 0.9%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
• The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1007
• The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2476
• The Japanese yen rose 0.7% to 136.48 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 3.8% to $28,722.16
• Ether rose 3.5% to $1,870.91

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 15 basis points to 3.42%
• Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 2.26%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 3.67%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude fell 5.4% to $71.56 a barrel
• Gold futures rose 1.7% to $2,026.60 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.