US stocks rise as markets digest UBS takeover of Credit Suisse

New York, March 20 (IANS) US stocks rose on Monday as investors digested UBS's takeover of embattled Swiss lender Credit Suisse, according to a media report.

UBS on Sunday agreed to buy Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.25 billion), which is about 60 per cent less than what the bank was worth at Friday's market close, CNN reported. Shares of Credit Suisse tumbled 56 per cent.

Shares of New York Community Bancorp, which said on Monday it would buy $38.4 billion worth of assets and virtually all deposits from failed Signature Bank, climbed over 33 per cent, after seeing its biggest jump on record earlier in the day, CNN reported.

Gold continued its rise on Monday as investors sought safer assets, having earlier hit its highest level in almost a year. Bitcoin jumped to a nine-month high.

West Texas Intermediate, the US benchmark for oil, sank to $65 a barrel, its lowest level since 2021, amid ongoing concern about banking sector contagion, CNN reported.

Regional banks continue to be under pressure over a week after the collapse of Silicon Valley and Signature banks rocked the financial sector, sending customers fleeing and banks rushing to restore faith in the security of their deposits.

Compounding the market's volatility is a Federal Reserve policymaking meeting. Traders see a roughly 70% probability that the central bank will raise interest rates by a quarter point, CNN reported.

Lenders of last resort central banks and some of the industry's strongest players provided huge sums of emergency cash to support teetering banks since the global banking crisis began, CNN reported.

More than $400 billion has gone so far in direct central bank support, CNN reported.

In guaranteeing all deposits at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the US Federal Reserve is on the hook for $140 billion.

Then there's the $54 billion the Swiss National Bank offered Credit Suisse in the form of an emergency loan, and 209 billion Swiss francs ($225 billion) offered to UBS in loans, guaranteed by the Swiss states, and protection against potential losses, CNN reported.