Some U.S regional banks resume slide after rebound

Heritage Financial

15/03/2023 11:27

(Updates)
    ** Shares of some U.S. regional banks fall in premarket
trading, after a bounce in the prior session
    ** Western Alliance Bancorp  WAL.N , PacWest Bancorp
 PACW.O , KeyCorp  KEY.N , Comerica Inc  CMA.N , Fifth Third
Bancorp  FITB.O , Truist Financial Corp  TFC.N  and Zions
Bancorp  ZION.O  down between 2.3% and 6.9%
    ** Their shares resumed a slide following a rise in the
previous session that was mainly an on-target inflation reading
spurring bets of the Federal Reserve to tone down its interest
rate hiking spree
    ** Investors fear a potential banking sector crisis after
the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank  SIVB.O  and Signature Bank
 SBNY.O 
    ** "We expect banks to increase the rate that they pay on
deposits and thus net interest margins could come under pressure
across the industry," says Alexander Yokum, equity analyst at
CFRA Research
    ** "Regional banks may see increased regulatory costs as
regulators look to try and prevent a similar episode from
occurring once more. We expect regional bank earnings estimates
to come down for both 2023 and 2024" - Yokum
    ** Regional banking short-sellers have made $3.53 bln in
mark-to-market profits this month, taking this year's gains to
16.06% on an average short interest of $17.33 bln, S3 Partners
said on Tuesday 
    ** First Republic Bank  FRC.N  edged up 1% at $40.18 in
choppy trading, a day after a sharp rebound

 (Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Medha Singh)
 ((Shreyashi.Sanyal@thomsonreuters.com))