(CercleFinance.com) – The main European stock markets are moving in the red this morning, Paris gives up 1.2% ahead of Frankfurt (-1.4%) and London (-2%) against a backdrop of concerns about the health of two American banks (Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Silvergate Capital), concerns which also question the solidity of the financial system of the United States.
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) announced yesterday that it intended to launch a capital increase in order to bail out after suffering heavy losses on the sale of part of its bond portfolio.
The title of this 40-year-old company, which helps finance Californian technology companies, fell more than 60% last night at the close of Wall Street.
In addition, Silvergate Capital, an institution very focused on cryptocurrencies, continued its fall (-42%) yesterday after expressing its intention to go into liquidation soon.
These announcements caused the American stock markets to fall on Thursday, fearing a domino effect of the crisis on the model of the sequences which had precipitated the financial crisis of 2008.
The Dow Jones index of the 30 major industrial components ended down almost 1.7%, the broader S&P 500 fell 1.8%, while the Nasdaq composite dropped more than 2%.
It was mainly financial stocks that were attacked, with investors seeking to reduce their positions vis-à-vis the sectors most sensitive to current uncertainties.
The Bank of America share thus lost more than 6%, Citigroup around 4% and Morgan Stanley not far from 3%.
These fears have logically led to a rush towards less risky assets, such as gold or government bonds.
Investors are now awaiting the publication of the US employment report, scheduled for early afternoon and which will be the high point of the week in terms of statistical publication.
These figures will indeed be of particular importance to investors as the market expects the Federal Reserve to accelerate its rate hikes.
The challenge of this session is therefore simple and participants hope to learn of a reassuring figure that would allow them to validate the scenario of an upcoming ‘pause’ in the Fed’s monetary tightening cycle.
Economists expect a slowdown in job creation in February, after the sharp rise in January (517,000 jobs created), as well as a stabilization of wage growth.
In the meantime, investors were able to learn this morning of a 0.3% rise in British GDP in January, a stronger rise than expected and essentially driven by the good performance of the services sector. As a reminder, GDP fell by 0.5% in December.
In company news, Eni announces that it has signed a collaboration framework agreement with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a spin-out from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with the aim of accelerating the industrialization of fusion energy.
Roche announces that an advisory committee of the FDA, the United States Medicines Agency, has recommended approval of its new treatment for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
Finally, the Dutch financial services group ING announced on Friday the co-optation of Alexandra Reich, a 60-year-old businesswoman, as a director.
