We had a lot of early morning market panic after the latest government-engineered bank takeover in Europe. But equities have clawed all that ground back now.
Meanwhile, gold and silver keep climbing, oil is sagging, and Treasuries are flat. The dollar is a bit lower.
On the news front...
Swiss banking giant UBS Group AG (UBS) agreed to buy its troubled rival Credit Suisse Group AG (CS) for more than $3 billion after several days of banking sector turmoil in Europe and the U.S. The Swiss government agreed to provide UBS with a $9 billion-plus backstop for potential losses to help facilitate the transaction. The Swiss central bank also provided a $100 billion-plus liquidity line to UBS.
Meanwhile, six global central banks (including the U.S. Federal Reserve) announced Sunday that they would conduct additional dollar swaps in coming days. That move is designed to make bank funding easier and cheaper to obtain in the capital markets.
As for the recent bout of U.S. bank failures, New York Community Bancorp (NYCB) is buying $38 billion in assets from Signature Bank, which the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently took over. NYCB will also assume $36 billion in liabilities, including $34 billion in deposits. No word yet on what will happen with Silicon Valley Bank, which failed with $209 billion in assets.
In other news, Chinese premier Xi Jinping arrived in Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin today. China claims it is trying to broker peace in the Ukraine conflict, but most analysts think the visit is much more about solidifying ties between the two nations.
Finally, gold briefly topped $2,000 an ounce in the early going. It’s getting very close to its all-time high around $2,030 an ounce, set in August 2020.
