Stock prices in the US and Europe fell on Thursday as investors worried about the financial sector ahead of the release of US employment data and remained cautious after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the US central bank may step up interest rate hikes to curb inflation.
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Silicon Valley-focused U.S. financial firm SVB Financial Group said on Wednesday it had lost $1.8 billion after selling securities to raise funds as customer deposits declined.
On the same day, it was reported that the crypto banking giant Silvergate plans to close down due to the crisis in the crypto market.
Markets await Friday’s scheduled release of US employment data for February. Analysts forecast that the US economy added 205,000 jobs in February and that the unemployment rate was steady at 3.4%.
Investors worry that good jobs data could prompt the FRS to raise interest rates faster this month and beyond, but such a move could send the economy into recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.7% to 32,254.86 points on Thursday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.9% to 3,918.32 points, and the Nasdaq Composite index fell by 2.1% to 11,338.35 points.
London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6% to 7,879.98 on Thursday, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 was unchanged at 15,633.21 and Paris’ CAC 40 fell 0.1% to 7,315.88.
WTI crude fell 1.2% to $75.72 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. “Brent” crude oil price on the London exchange decreased by 1.3% to 81.59 dollars per barrel.
On the Dutch exchange “Title Transfer Facility” (TTF), the price of natural gas rose by 2.98% to 43.60 euros per megawatt hour on Thursday.
The euro rose against the US dollar on Thursday from $1.0545 to $1.0586 per euro, the British pound against the US dollar rose from $1.1845 to $1.1922 per pound and the US dollar against the Japanese yen fell from 137.36 to 136.15 yen per dollar. The euro fell against the British pound from 89.04 to 88.77 pence per euro.
