Morning Report: Confidence in regional banks shaken

Wall Street’s confidence in regional banks remain shaky today. First Republic shares fell more than 60% and were briefly halted for volatility. Western Alliance Bancorp’s stock also fell 47%, and PacWest Bancorp fell more than 20%. Some customers have been taking their money out of these  smaller banks and depositing it into “too big to fail” banks. President Biden’s assurances that their deposits were safe with their regional banks were not convincing enough to make them stay.

Seagen, a leader in precision medicines, has developed a new delivery method for cancer-killing dugs. The new delivery mechanism uses antibodies to deposit a strong concentration of drug directly at a tumor site, which may increase efficacy with fewer side effects. The drugs are so potent they might be too toxic to use with other methods.

The DOW dropped Monday as a plan to backstop all depositors in failed Silicon Valley Bank. Extraordinary measures were taken to boost bank share, but these failed as well. However, losses were contained as some investors bet the financial shock could cause the Federal Reserve to pause interest rate hikes.

Investors rush into bonds, gold in flight to safety. Investor feel that their money is better protected in
those places than in stocks.

Vail Resorts’ profit outlook melts after California blizzards and few flakes in the northeast U.S. Improved conditions at their Colorado, Utah, and Tahoe resorts enabled select early resort openings and drove strong early season local visitation. The easing of travel restrictions in Canada also helped the business.