Ever feel like the stock market can’t make up its mind? Yeah, me too!
Equities plunged in the early going yesterday before rallying back to just garden-variety “down on the day.” They were a bit weaker again this morning.
Treasuries were higher, oil was lower, while gold and silver were mixed. The dollar was slightly weaker.
On the news front...
How do you say “Bailout” in Switzerland? It’s a trick question because the country has four official languages – German, French, Italian, and Romansh. But whatever the term, Credit Suisse (CS) is just happy to have some support.
The troubled Swiss mega-bank said it would borrow 50 billion Swiss francs, or around $54 billion, from the Swiss National Bank to shore up its finances. CS will use some of the money to buy back outstanding bonds at below-par prices. That said, this company has been in trouble for ages. For some perspective, the CS American Depository Receipts traded in the U.S. are down 79% in the last two years and 91% in the last five.
Here in the U.S., San Francisco-based First Republic Bank (FRC) is reportedly looking at options that include a sale. Its shares have been on a wild ride of late thanks to the recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. After trading as high as $147 in February, the stock recently plunged to less than $24.
Strategists at firms like TD Securities and JPMorgan Chase are getting nervous about the recent rally in Treasuries, according to Bloomberg. The move has been fueled by the unfolding banking crisis. The yield on the 2-year note just dropped the most since the 1987 stock market crash, for instance, while the TLT ETF that tracks long-term bond prices has risen 7% since the start of the month.
The U.S. government is ratcheting up pressure on the social media app TikTok. The Biden administration reportedly wants TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell it or face a U.S. user ban. It worries the Chinese-owned company could pass data on U.S. users to the Chinese government.
