US stocks fell on Wednesday as two economic prints showed a slowdown in February, along with fresh turmoil at Credit Suisse (CS), renewed investor concerns over the banking sector.
Checking in with the major indices around 1 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 1.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) fell 2.1%. The contract with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell 1.4%.
Bond yields have declined. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note fell to 3.42% from 3.6% on Tuesday afternoon. On the front end of the yield curve, the two-year yield fell to 3.8%. Oil fell to new lows in years, with WTI falling more than 4% to below $70 a barrel.
All three key indices gained on Tuesday as key inflation data came in line with expectations. The S&P 500 closed up 1.7%, while the Nasdaq climbed 2.3%, marking the index’s best day in five weeks. Shares of regional banks gained, clawing back some of the recent losses.
But the latest crisis at Credit Suisse caused further jitters in the markets on Wednesday. The European Bank’s stock fell more than 20% after its biggest backer said it may provide no more aid. Credit Suisse disclosed in a report on Tuesday that it had identified “material weaknesses” in its controls over financial reporting.
On the economic data side in the US, the Commerce Department said retail sales fell 0.4% from the previous month, in line with an economist consensus compiled by Bloomberg. Meanwhile, February’s producer-price index, which measures what suppliers are charging businesses, dropped 0.1% in an unexpected decline.
Wednesday’s data followed Tuesday’s release of the closely watched Consumer Price Index (CPI), which the Commerce Department said rose 6.0% in February last year, the smallest increase since September 2021. In the same survey, the core CPI, which separates food and energy, rose 5.5%, also in line with expectations.
The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, as well as the looming turmoil at Credit Suisse, come at a time when the economy is in recession, accompanied by inflation. This has sparked debate among traders on whether the Fed will raise interest rates after its meeting next week.
The stress is mostly contained in regional banks, said Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics, with his team expecting a quarter-percentage-point rate hike after the Fed’s upcoming March meeting.
“With inflation running well above the 2% target, a pause in the tightening cycle or a rate cut would be premature,” Sweet wrote. “Policymakers can use tools other than interest rates to ease stress in the banking system.”
A similar sentiment came from William Blair’s macro analyst Richard de Chazal, who said in light of current events a quarter point increase would probably be considered “more prudent”.
The banking sector received a no-confidence vote on Tuesday as Moody’s downgraded the outlook for the US sector as a whole from stable to negative, citing a “sharp deterioration in the operating environment”.
Bank sentiment continued to be poor for members of the KBW Bank Index (^BKX), as the index sank on Wednesday. Large-cap index members including Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Citigroup (C) traded flat on Wednesday.
Regional bank stocks in the banking sector continued to suffer fresh losses on Wednesday — First Republic Bank (FRC), Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL), PacWest Bancorp (PACW), Regional Financial (RF), and Zions Bancorporation (ZION) — all down. Were doing business.
here are some the stock is trending On Yahoo Finance on Wednesday:
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credit Suisse (C, The bank’s top shareholder ruled out further financial support to the lender. The shareholder cited regulatory concerns as the reason for not being open to infusing more capital into the bank.
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UBS Group AG (UBS, Bloomberg reported that UBS chief executive Ralf Hammers said he would not answer any “hypothetical questions” following the turmoil at its rival Credit Suisse.
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meta platformmeta, Meta announces another 10,000 layoffs. The recruitment team is among those most affected by the job cuts, as the company plans to close the 5,000 vacancies it is yet to fill. Citi raised its target price to $260 from $228.
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AMC Entertainment (AMC, The company said that the initial tally shareholders voted in favor of increasing the firm’s stock authorization and converting the AMC preferred equity units into common shares.
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Sentinelvan, Inc. ,S, The cybersecurity company reported fourth-quarter earnings in which total revenue jumped 92% to $126.1 million, up from $65.6 million a year ago.
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3M Company (mmm, The stock is trading down ahead of the company’s investor day event.
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Advanced Micro Devices (amd, Stocks outperformed Tuesday for large-cap technology stocks after three consecutive days of declines.
On the earnings front, Adobe (ADBE); Otley (OTLY); uipath(path); Five Below (Five) will present its quarterly results on Wednesday.
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Dani Romero is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. follow him on twitter @daniromerotv
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