Dow Jones futures were little changed overnight, along with S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures. FedEx (FDX) reported earnings late Thursday, signaling a possible FDX stock breakout.
X
The stock market rally attempt had a strong session, reversing higher from morning lows. The Nasdaq led the way, fueled by big caps such as Apple stock, Microsoft (MSFT), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA).
But Thursday’s market catalyst was news of a $30 billion deposit infusion for embattled California-based First Republic Bank (FRC). JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC) and Wells Fargo (WFC) announced that they will each make a $5 billion uninsured deposit into First Republic. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) are contributing $2.5 billion each. Bank of New York Mellon (BK), PNC Financial (PNC), State Street (STT), Truist (TFC) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) are each making an uninsured deposit of $1 billion.
FRC stock, down over 36% intraday and up as much as 28%, closed up 10.3% to 34.38. Shares are off more than 70% this month. Several other regional banks moved higher as well, including Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) and Pacific Western Bank (PACW), often called PacWest.
But FRC stock plunged 17% in late trading as First Republic suspended its dividend. WAL stock and PACW stock retreated solidly overnight.
JPM stock closed up 1.9%, rebounding from just above the 200-day moving average. Citi and BAC stock also closed up nearly 2%.
The First Republic rescue report followed Wednesday night news that Credit Suisse (CS) would borrow up to $53.7 billion from the Swiss National Bank while also buying back debt. CS stock rose solidly intraday, but closed flat at 2.16. Shares hit a record low of 1.75 intraday Wednesday.
Banks tapped $164.8 billion from the central bank’s backstops in the week ended March 15, the Federal Reserve data showed late Thursday. That includes a record $152.85 billion from the discount window, up from $4.58 billion in the prior week. That’s likely mostly from the FDIC-run successors to SVB Financial and Signature…
..
