The European stock markets are unscrewing again, BNP Paribas and Société Générale fall by more than 10%

European banks continue to plunge on the stock market on Wednesday, weighed down by fears around Credit Suisse after the refusal of its largest Saudi shareholder to raise more capital. Around 11:30 GMT, BNP Paribas fell by 11.11%, Société Générale by 11.01% and Commerzbank by 10.08%. European indices lost 2.9% in Frankfurt to 3.85% in Milan.

On Wednesday morning, all eyes were on Credit Suisse. Its first shareholder, the Saudi National Bank, will notabsolutely notsupport the Swiss bank by increasing its capital, explained its president Ammar al-Khudairy in an interview with Bloomberg TV. After the bankruptcy of the American bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), “it seems that more and more investors are looking to CS (Credit Suisse, editor’s note) as the next most likely domino”, comments Neil Wilson, analyst at Finalto . Result, the action of Credit Suisse unscrewed by 19.7%, reaching a new historical low point.

Credit Suisse has been in turmoil for several months and had to raise four billion Swiss francs at the end of 2022 via a capital increase which had allowed the entry of the Saudi National Bank. But in early March, the American investment firm Harris Associates, which was one of its longtime shareholders, threw in the towel.

Read alsoBertille Bayart: “SVB, small bank, big consequences”

The ECB should “maintain its plans”

While the measures taken by the American authorities and the assurances given by European governments on the soundness of the banking system following the bankruptcy of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) were able to stabilize the markets a little on Tuesday, the trend remains fragile. Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz has judged “slowThis reaction, and does not exclude other failures in an interview with AFP on Wednesday. Sign of a flight of investors towards investments perceived as safer, the borrowing rates of the States fell, while they were rising sharply at the start of the session. The 10-year US bond fell to 3.57%, against 3.69% the day before.

Bond yields have fallen dramatically since the end of last week, as the banking shock changed investors’ perceptions of the next monetary policy choices the US central bank should make. The trend is now for it to maintain a slow pace of rate hikes, even if inflation remains at a high level in February, 6% according to the CPI index published on Tuesday. In the euro zone, the central bank should “stick to one’s planswith a sharp hike in its key rates on Thursday at its monetary policy meeting, according to Ms. Ozkardeskaya.

In Asia, Tokyo failed to rebound (+0.03%), after two stalling sessions. Shanghai (+0.55%) and Hong Kong (+1.52%) left after the announcement of a recovery in retail sales in China, the main indicator of household consumption. They rebounded for the first time since September, in line with economists’ expectations, underlining the upturn in activity since the lifting of anti-Covid restrictions in the country.

Read alsoSVB: six questions about bankruptcy and its risk of cascading consequences

Slight rebound in oil

After finishing at a four-month low on Tuesday with fears of a recession in the United States, oil prices were moving forward: the barrel of Brent from the North Sea for May delivery rose 0.62% to 77 93 dollars, that of American WTI for April delivery 0.57% to 71.74 dollars around 10:00 GMT. Oil companies were affected by the fall in prices, more than 10% for WTI since the start of the week. TotalEnergies fell by 3.58%, BP by 32.20%, Shell by 3.22%.

The dollar took advantage of its safe haven status to rise against other currencies. The euro fell 0.53% to 1.0676 dollars and the pound 0.36% to 1.2115 dollars. Bitcoin gained another 0.33% to $24,720, a gain of more than 21% since Friday.