NewsRescue
Banking stocks drove European markets lower on Monday as global investors assessed the ramifications of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure (SVB). After a bank run caused its stock to plummet, the US lender imploded last week and had its assets seized.
At 13:00 GMT, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 2.56%, with all major stocks trading in the red. Bank stocks fell more than 6%, with Commerzbank, BAWAG Group, and Banco BPM leading the way. Credit Suisse fell 15% in early trading, UniCredit fell 9%, and Deutsche Bank and Raiffeisen Bank both fell 7%.
The meltdown occurred despite news that Britain’s HSBC, one of the world’s largest banks with $2.9 trillion in assets, had agreed to rescue the bank.
“We’re seeing a liquidity withdrawal, which is typical after a credit event like what’s happening at SVB. “When people are scared, they reduce their exposure to equities and move into government bonds,” Haig Bathgate, Atomos’ head of investments, told Bloomberg.