The Silicon Valley Bank failure is the Largest Since the 2008 Financial Crisis
On Friday, the startup-focused lender SVB Financial Group experienced an abrupt collapse that rocked global markets and left billions of dollars belonging to businesses and investors stranded. This failure made SVB Financial Group the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis.
The bank, which operated under the name Silicon Valley Bank, was shut down by California banking regulators on Friday and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named as receiver for a later sale of its assets.
MACROECONOMIC DATA ANALYSIS
China unexpectedly retained its central bank governor and finance minister at the annual session of the rubber-stamp parliament on Sunday, prioritizing continuity as domestic and international economic challenges loom. President Xi Jinping, who has been installing allies in key positions as he begins a third five-year term, defied convention by retaining Yi Gang, 65, as governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), and Liu Kun, 66, as finance minister. Both men are officially retired at the age of 65.
Deutsche Post (OTC:DPSGY) announced on Saturday that it had reached a wage agreement with the Verdi trade union, allowing it to avoid an indefinite strike threatened by unionized workers. The offer, which members must still vote on, would give Deutsche Post's 160,000 German employees a one-time payment of 3,000 euros spread over 15 months and raise monthly wages by 340 euros beginning April 1, 2024, according to a company statement.
CURRENCIES
The US dollar fell on Friday after U.S. labor data for February showed slower wage growth, implying that the Federal Reserve's pace of interest rate hikes may be slowed, reducing the greenback's appeal. The US dollar index, which compares the greenback to a basket of six major currencies, dropped by 0.65% to 104.625.
GOLD
Gold reached a one-month high on Friday, indicating that it may be about to leave the mid-$1,800 range it has been stuck in for the past four weeks after benign U.S. jobs growth for February indicated a smaller rate hike than initially anticipated. Gold futures rose by 2.08% to $1,872 per ounce.
OIL
Oil prices rose more than 1% on Friday after better-than-expected US employment data, but both benchmarks fell more than 3% on the week due to concerns about a rate hike in the United States. Brent crude futures rose by 1.29% to $82.64 a barrel, while the West Texas Intermediate increased by 1.27% to $76.68 a barrel.
INDICES
USA: S&P500 -1.45%, Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.07%, Nasdaq Composite -1.38%
Europe: FTSE 100 -1.67%, DAX -1.31%, CAC 40 -1.30%
Asia: Nikkei 225 -1.67%, Hang Seng -3.04%, CSI 300 -1.31%, Nifty 50 -1.00%
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Moderna president Stephen Hoge said in an interview on Monday that the company expects to price its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States at around $130 per dose in the future as government purchases shift to the private sector.
Hoge stated this in advance of a Congressional hearing on Moderna's pricing strategies chaired by Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. "There are different customers negotiating different prices right now, which is why it's a little bit complicated," he added.
Market confidence increased on Monday as a result of government efforts to prevent a global banking crisis. Investors welcomed the historic Swiss-backed purchase of troubled Credit Suisse by UBS Group as well as the emergency dollar liquidity provided by leading central banks.
UBS will pay 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.23 billion) for the 167-year-old Credit Suisse Group AG and take on up to $5.4 billion in losses as part of a deal arranged by Swiss regulators on Sunday.