US OPEN: Banks stocks rise on Credit Suisse-UBS deal

15:15 20 March 2023
  • US indices launched today's cash trading in mixed moods
  • Takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS supports US bank stocks
  • First Republic (FRC.US) plunged after another Standard & Poor’s downgrade

Three major Wall Street indices started the new week in mixed moods, with Dow Jones gaining over 1.00%, S&P 500 adding 0.60%, while Nasdaq fell more than 0.30% as traders analyze the health of the global banking sector. Over the weekend, the Swiss government engineered a takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, triggering a write-off of $17 billion worth of AT1 bonds from the former. This boosted shares of major US banks like Goldman, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan. Investors also await the highly-anticipated 2-day FOMC meeting to kick off tomorrow.

S&P 500 index stocks categorized by sectors and industries. Size represents market cap. Source: xStation5

US500 fell sharply during the Asian session, however market sentiment shifted later on as sellers failed to break below local support at 3920 pts . Nevertheless as long as the index sits below the psychological 4000 pts level, the main sentiment remains bearish. Source: xStation5

Company news: 

First Republic (FRC.US) stock fell nearly 19% before the opening bell after Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating again, to B+ from BB+, on Sunday. Last week, the rating agency lowered First Republic’s credit rating to junk status.  

Enphase Energy (ENPH.US) stock rose nearly 4.0% on Monday after Raymond James upgraded the battery storage company to outperform from market perform, noting the selloff in Enphase shares, which  tumbled more than 30% this year.

US Bancorp (USB.US) stock rose over 3.0% in premarket erasing some of the recent losses which followed the closures Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Some analysts said UBS’s forced Credit Suisse merger over the weekend could boost investor sentiment toward smaller US banks, like Zions (ZION.US) or KeyCorp (KEY.US).

Zions (ZION.US) stock fell sharply in March however buyers managed to defend key support at $23.40, where pandemic lows are located. As long as price sits above the aforementioned level, a bigger upward correction may occur. Nearest resistance to watch is located at 78.6% Fibonacci retracement of the upward wave started in March 2020 around $ 34.45 Source: xStation5

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