US shares rebound after Silicon Valley Bank turmoil

We're going to close this live page shortly but before then, here's a look at what's happened in the world of US banking today:

US stock markets... opened higher at the start of trading on Tuesday, after consumer prices in the US grew in line with expectations

Inflation figures... released today showed consumer prices in the US rose 6% over the 12 months to February - the slowest annual increase since September 2021

Shares in US banks... have recovered some of the steep losses they suffered following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) - the second biggest bank failure in US history

The International Monetary Fund... says the US bank's collapse does not appear to be causing a global shock - at least for now

An investigation... is reportedly under way into what went wrong at SVB. Officials at the US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission are looking at moves by executives to sell shares in the weeks ahead of the failure, as well as potential fraud, US media reports say

Meanwhile at Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp... 10,000 jobs have been axed as part of a second round of major job cuts in six months

The value of shares in some banks tumbled around the world after the collapse of two US banks. So how bad is this and what does it mean for you?

When the US president himself goes out of his way to tell people that their money is safe, then you know the government is taking a financial crash seriously.

Joe Biden's assurances on Monday weren't just for the customers of the two failed banks either. There are wider ramifications, in the US and across the world.

Read more here.

EPACopyright: EPA

Here are the basics about Signature Bank:

• Founded in 2001 and based in New York, it was the 29th largest bank in the US at the end of last year
• It was known for catering to commercial property firms - another sector under stress
• It also banked some of the largest crypto brokers and worked with clients such as Coinbase and Circle
• Its clients included Sweden’s largest pension fund, Alecta and Norway’s sovereign wealth fund

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Here's the lowdown about Silicon Valley Bank, or SVB:

• SVB was founded in 1983 and had deep roots in the Bay Area, where it was a big lender to local sectors, like the wine industry and the tech world. Its clients included startups such as vegan food giant Beyond Meat, networking firm Cisco, Vox Media and software firm DocuSign
• It opened its first overseas offices in 2004, and expanded rapidly over the last decade, riding the tech boom to become America's 16th largest bank. Many analysts thought it was in solid shape - it made the Forbes list of best banks just this year
• SVB made money providing loans and other basic banking services, as well as through fund and asset management services, investing in firms alongside venture capital companies and underwriting tech IPOs
• Around 40% of UK biotech firms, which develop many of the country's medicines, were banking with SVB’s British section. Due to the multiple years it can take to develop a drug, early-stage biotech firms often heavily rely on start-up friendly banks like SVB

The Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are investigating the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, according to US media reports.

Officials are looking at moves by executives to sell shares in the weeks ahead of the failure, as well as potential fraud, they say.

The SEC, a top financial regulator, declined to comment to the BBC on the reports. But Chairman Gary Gensler on Sunday indicated his agency would be taking a look.

"In times of increased volatility and uncertainty, we at the SEC are particularly focused on monitoring for market stability and identifying and prosecuting any form of misconduct that might threaten investors, capital formation, or the markets more broadly," he said then.

"Without speaking to any individual entity or person, we will investigate and bring enforcement actions if we find violations of the federal securities laws," he said.

With all eyes on the New York Stock Exchange, following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, we thought you might want to take a closer look at the ever-changing figures.

By clicking the Play button at the top of this page, you'll be able to see the exchange's live ticker.

EPACopyright: EPA

Let's take a step back, for those just joining us.

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was shut down by regulators who seized its assets on Friday.

It came after the bank was scrambling to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates.

Word of the troubles led customers to race to withdraw funds, and ultimately to its collapse.

On Sunday, US authorities also moved to take over another institution - Signature Bank of New York. It had many clients involved in crypto and was seen as the institution most vulnerable to a similar bank run after SVB.

Though investors appear to feel better about banks today, plenty of worries remain.

Moody's Investors Service, one of the three major ratings agencies, has offered a reminder of this, announcing it has changed its outlook on the US banking system from "stable" to "negative".

"Although the Department of the Treasury, Federal Reserve and FDIC [banking regulator the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation] announced that all depositors of SVB and Signature Bank will be made whole, the rapid and substantial decline in bank depositor and investor confidence precipitating this action starkly highlight risks... exacerbated by rapidly rising interest rates," the agency said, in explaining the decision.

The International Monetary Fund said on Monday it was closely monitoring developments in the US following the failures of SVB and Signature Bank.

Today, Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath says the crisis does not appear to be sparking a global shock - at least for now.

"The SVB crisis does not yet have the characteristics of a global risk-off shock," she writes on Twitter.

Emerging market currencies have been "minimally affected by the crisis", she says, adding that authorities are still "closely monitoring" the situation.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Meanwhile in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has told the people of his country that they shouldn't be too worried about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Regulators had learned lessons from the global financial crisis of 2008, he said at a news conference in Berlin.

The "very clear response" from US, British, European and German officials showed the situation was being closely monitored and actions taken quickly, he added.

Quote Message: That's the best thing you can do to ensure the safety of systems." from Olaf Scholz German Chancellor

That's the best thing you can do to ensure the safety of systems."

Is this the start of another financial crisis?

BBC North America business correspondent Samira Hussain explains what has happened to Silicon Valley Bank and why the rest of the world is watching - in just 80 seconds.

US President Joe Biden on Monday promised to do "whatever it takes" to keep the US banking system safe after the failures of SVB and Signature Bank led to concerns about financial instability.

Despite the assurances, shares of many banks dropped on Monday, as investors sold, newly worried about risks from holding them.

That move is reversing on Tuesday.

First Republic - among the most badly hit on Monday - is up roughly 50%; Pacific West has gained 45%, while KeyCorp is up about 15%.

Investors are also buying shares in bigger banks, with Citi, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase among the stocks moving higher in trade during the US morning.

The head of the US central bank, Jerome Powell, was already under pressure before SVB collapsed.

He's seen as being slow to respond when prices in the US started to rise in 2021.

Then, in its scramble to catch up to the problem, the bank has raised interest rates especially aggressively, heightening worries about the impact of the moves on the economy.

Now the SVB blow-up has drawn scrutiny about whether the Fed - which is also charged with overseeing banks - dropped the ball on its regulatory role.

The Fed on Monday said it would conduct a review of the supervision of SVB in light of its failure.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who is one of Powell's toughest critics, on Tuesday morning said Powell must recuse himself from that review, since the Fed's rate rises were part of what set off troubles for SVB.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

We're just hearing Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is to cut 10,000 jobs over the next few months.

Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the job cuts were part of a "year of efficiency", as the US tech sector continues to downsize.

He told employees in an email the job cuts would target middle management, and that 5,000 other roles would remain unfilled.

It follows cuts announced by the company in November.

Read more here.

All three major share indexes in the US have opened higher today.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up about 1%, the S&P 500 has climbed roughly 1.5% and the Nasdaq is about 1.9% higher.

That's after the Labor Department reported consumer prices in Feburary rose 6% over the prior 12 months - in line with expectations.

Shares of regional banks, which had sunk sharply yesterday, unsettled by the SVB and Signature failures, are also rallying, in a sign that the emergency measures US authorities took to try to calm the situation may be working.

Analysts say SVB and Signature were vulnerable because their client base was relatively concentrated among businesses in particular sectors, such as tech, commercial property and crypto - leaving them exposed if those sectors came under strain, or suddenly stopped wanting to do business with them.

At Signature, deposits fell 20% in the first nine months of 2022, according to CFRA Research.

More typically, banks can count on a large number of clients, who won't all want to move money at the same time - or hold such large sums that it will make a difference.

That's one reason many analysts say they're not worried this will spread much farther.

But the percentage of deposits that are insured has fallen to about 50% in recent years, according to analysts at Wells Fargo Bank. (At Signature, just 10% of deposits were insured, according to CFRA.)

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that federal home loan banks - which serve as a funding backstop for regional banks - were looking to raise money, and Reuters news agency said the federal home loan banks were seeing higher-than-usual demand for funds.

Those are signs of the way that the situation has caused wider worries about the risk of cash crunch.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Big shifts in the stock market are often in the news, and for good reason, as their performance can affect your life and finances.

Even if you don't invest money directly yourself, there are millions of people with a pension - either private or through work - who will see their savings invested by pension schemes. The value of their savings pot is influenced by the performance of these investments.

So big rises or falls in share prices can affect your pension, although pension savings are usually a long-term bet.

Anyone who has a pension pot invested and is taking an income from it will again see their investment go up and down with the stock markets.

That could mean getting less than you expected if you cash in too much after stock markets have fallen, making it important to plan how to make up any of this shortfall, experts say.

So "the markets" matter - maybe not as much as everyday wages, but for the future.

We're not far off the US markets opening for the day, which should give us a clear indication as to where things stand.

We'll also bring you reaction to the latest US inflation figures amid the continued fallout from the collapse of both Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The markets are due to open at 13:30 GMT (09:30 ET). Stay with us.

VIEWpressCopyright: VIEWpress

Grocery bills have shot up over the last year - and nowhere was the pain more evident than when buying a box of eggs.

Compared with a year ago, the price of a dozen eggs is up more than 50%.

The surge in prices has been blamed on a mix of factors, from avian flu hurting poultry stocks to price gouging, depending on whom you ask.

But at last, there is a glimmer of relief. The average price in February - $4.21 (£3.45) for a dozen large eggs - fell 6.7% from January, the first decline in months.