Friday, March 31, 2023

US stocks close higher as fears of banking crisis ease

 Wall Street

 stocks climbed Thursday as markets calmed after recent banking sector turmoil. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent to 32,859.03, while the broad-based S&P 500 picked up by 0.6 percent to 4,050.83. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 percent to 12,013.47.

While investors have been wary since federal officials seized control of 

Silicon Valley Bank

 earlier this month -- marking the collapse of one of three midsized lenders -- there have not been more US casualties since then.


This raised hopes that the emergency steps taken by regulators and private lenders have staved off contagion.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary 

Janet Yellen

 told a conference that recent events including the banking sector turmoil "remind us of the urgent need to complete unfinished business."

This includes finalizing post-crisis reforms and considering "whether deregulation may have gone too far."


President 

Joe Biden

 also called on banking regulators to reinstate tougher rules on midsized banks, saying that doing so would prevent future failures like that of SVB.

Meanwhile, weekly jobless claims figures released Thursday edged slightly higher, fuelling hopes that the 

Federal Reserve

 could soon ease on interest rate hikes if the labor market cools further.


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