Wall Street worried about regional banks

(New York) Indexes on the New York Stock Exchange fell on Tuesday, weighed down by new concerns about the fate of American regional banks.

Around 11:45 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones was down 1.61%, the NASDAQ was down 1.40% and the S

Despite the takeover of First Republic by JPMorgan (-1.47%) the day before supposed to ease the banking crisis, the sector worried again. The regional bank PacWest, suspended from listing several times for volatility, plunged more than 25% and Western Alliance, among others, melted 19%.

“Regional banks are under pressure. It is obvious that the concerns are reborn even after the First Republic takeover operation, it is getting worse,” said Karl Haeling of LBBW.

“ The market is telling us that it is hunting other banks ”, he warned, interviewed by AFP.

The turbulence came as the Federal Reserve, which chaired with the FDIC regulatory agency the last-minute solution to the troubled bank First Republic, is holding a monetary meeting and must normally decide on a new rate hike.

“The Fed must consider” these unrests “as a game-changing event,” said the LBBW analyst. “ She cannot continue to be strict in her communication ” on Wednesday when she announces her monetary decision, he added.

For Peter Cardillo of Spartan Capital Securities, this fall in the indices was more related to “ the fear of recession ”, while oil prices plunged by more than 4%.

Wall Street began to decline rapidly after a job market indicator (JOLTS survey) was released on Tuesday showing a sharp drop in job vacancies in the United States in March to a two-year low.

Gold rose, bond yields fell to 3.96% from 4.14% the day before for two-year bills, while the VIX index, which measures market volatility, jumped 20%.