In less than a month, Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse have collapsed. Deutsche Bank stock tumbled Friday as investors priced in growing default risk. Jerome Powell, Nouriel Roubini, Elon Musk, and others have shared their views on the turmoil. Loading Something is loading.
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In less than a month, Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse have all collapsed, while shares of US regional banks are still reeling.
And on Friday, Deutsche Bank tumbled as investors priced in growing default risks, highlighting the continued unease about the banking system.
Experts have pointed to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hikes over the past year as a driver for the turmoil. But the central bank and others around the world have hiked rates further amid pressure to balance fights against inflation against efforts to stabilize the banking sector.
Here’s what some top commentators have said about the turmoil.
Jerome PowellFollowing the announcement of a 25-basis-point rate hike, the Fed chief said all depositors’ savings are safe, adding that US banking system is “strong and resilient.”
“History has shown that isolated banking problems, if left unaddressed, can undermine confidence in healthy banks and threaten the ability of the banking system as a whole to play its vital role in supporting the savings and credit needs of households and businesses,” he said.
He also acknowledged that if credit tightens in the bank sector and slows the broader economy, then the Fed may not have to do as much later with monetary policy via interest rate hikes.
Nouriel RoubiniIn a recent interview on the McKinsey Global Institute’s “Forward Thinking” podcast, Roubini, who predicted the 2008 recession, said another financial crisis could be looming.
He named high interest rates, waning liquidity, and large debt burdens as stresses that will pressure the economy.
“It’s got like, a Bermuda Triangle. You have a hit to your income, to your asset values, and then to the burden of financing your liabilities. And then you end up in a situation of distress if you’re a highly leveraged household or business firm. And when many of them are having these problems, then you have a systemic household debt crisis like [2008],” he warned.
Elon MuskThe billionaire Tesla and Twitter chief sees danger ahead for the US economy if the Fed doesn’t contain the crisis among regional banks. Earlier this week, financial blog Zero Hedge said on Twitter that failures of smaller banks could lead to another Great Depression.
“This is a serious risk,” Musk tweeted in response.
In a separate tweet, he said the FDIC needs to provide to unlimited deposit coverage to stop bank runs.
Carson Block”These risks were right under the noses of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the FOMC committee members,” the Muddy Waters Research founder told Bloomberg Thursday.
“I mean, this wasn’t something that was far afield, where in hindsight you’d say that would have been hard for them to foresee.”
Liz Ann SondersCharles Schwab’s chief investment strategist warned on Wednesday that the banking crisis could morph into a painful credit crunch that sends the economy into a downturn.
“The Fed has a fairly small opening in the needle it’s trying to thread in balancing the threats associated with the banking crisis, and the need to combat still-high inflation,” Sonders wrote in a note.
“Although Powell said there remains a ‘pathway’ to a soft landing, we believe what we’ve been calling a ‘rolling recession’ is more likely to roll into a more formal recession.”