Banking jitters spread (Nancy Lane/Getty Images)
Banking jitters spread (Nancy Lane/Getty Images)
Hey Snackers,
March Madness is happening, but this year it’s less about basketball and more about banks dropping the ball. Despite Saint Paddy’s Day, many weren’t feeling lucky on Friday.
Stocks fell Friday, led by major declines in regional banks like First Republic, as stability worries continued. Still, the S&P 500 rose 1.4% for the week ahead of Wednesday’s Fed meeting as investors recalibrated rate-hike expectations.
Banking’s no good, very bad week… Global bank stocks were on a roller coaster last week after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which serviced about half of America’s venture-backed tech companies. A high-level recap of the second-largest bank failure in US history: when interest rates were ultralow, SVB invested most of its deposits into US Treasury bonds with long durations (think: 10+ years) to earn slightly higher interest. But when interest rates soared, the value of SVB’s old bonds plunged by $15B and its tight-knit VC customers all tried to pull their money out at once (spoiler: it couldn’t meet their requests).
Not-so-balanced sheets… Swiftly rising interest rates have led to two main problems for banks that failed to properly factor in this risk: (1) the value of their assets (think: bonds, loans, investments) fell as rates rose, and (2) customers withdrew more idle cash from their accounts in favor of higher-interest investments. After SVB’s fall, regional banks’ financial stability has come under scrutiny as traders and depositors look to identify banks with similar balance-sheet risks. Think: a high rate of uninsured deposits (accounts over the FDIC-insured $250K) and bonds with a long time to maturity. First Republic had the third-highest rate of uninsured deposits among US banks, after SVB and Signature Bank. Now it’s in the spotlight.
Panic can be a self-fulfilling prophecy… which is why governments are taking extraordinary measures to contain the damage. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US banking system “remains sound,” and President Biden pledged to do “whatever needed” to ensure America's banking-system confidence. Last week 68% of US consumers said they still had a fair amount of confidence in banks. Still, Yellen said that the government would not refund uninsured deposits for every single bank that fails (only those that would pose a systemic risk if they failed). Most Americans don’t have over $250K in individual bank accounts anyway, but many companies do.
It could go a few ways… US banks were sitting on $620B in unrealized losses (think: assets that’ve lost value but haven’t been sold) at the end of 2022. If people identify more poor risk management at small banks, it could lead to cratering trust in regional banking or more regulation for smaller banks. “Too big to fail” banks (like: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citi) are already seeing spikes in new deposits. The crisis could also compel the Fed to cool on rate hikes.
J. Pow needs an herbal tea… Between bank collapses and new inflation data, a lot’s happened recently that could influence the Fed’s important rate-hike decision this Wednesday. Some investors expect the banking crisis could pressure the Fed to cool on rate hikes (which contributed to banking woes). Most traders predict a hike of 25 basis points, down from 50 last week. Some firms even expect Powell will pause hikes (#Pow-se). While inflation isn’t cooling as fast as the Fed hoped, Goldman Sachs said it no longer expects a hike on Wednesday.
China's tech scene checks in… WeChat owner Tencent (also the world’s biggest gaming company) and ecomm giant Pinduoduo are set to report. The tech titans’ earnings come as China’s economy reopens after years of strict Covid policy. Meanwhile, China's tech world could be on the verge of an AI-powered shakeup. Both Tencent and Alibaba Group (the Amazon of China) are reportedly working on ChatGPT rivals. Meanwhile, Baidu (the Google of China) disappointed investors last week with its AI-chatbot demo.
Affordable EV race… Volkswagen plans to spend $126B+ on "electrification and digitization" as it pushes to grow its EV market share. The German auto powerhouse rolled out its design for a $26K EV set for release in 2025. The race toward less pricey EVs reflects growing competition for electric market share. Tesla has slashed prices several times this year and said it'll cut future EV production costs by half. Tesla risks getting passed, and not just by Volkswagen: Chinese startup XPeng launched two EVs in Europe that are priced below Teslas.
The odds of a perfect March Madness bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion
Authors of this Snacks own shares: of Amazon, Google, Snap, and Tesla
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