Dow falls for a fourth day as Silicon Valley Bank failure rattles Wall Street: Live updates

Stocks fell on Friday after tech-focused lender Silicon Valley Bank failed and was taken over by regulators, pressuring the broader banking sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last down 155 points, or 0.5%, and on pace for a fourth day of losses. The S&P 500 dipped 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1%.

The FDIC took control of Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits. The shutdown comes after shares tumbled Thursday when the bank announced plans to raise more than $2 billion in capital in a bid to offset losses from bond sales, and marks the biggest bank failure since the Global Financial Crisis.

Regional bank stocks tumbled in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s demise, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF last down nearly 6%. Several bank stocks were repeatedly halted on Friday, including First Republic, PacWest and crypto-focused Signature Bank. Shares last traded down between 20% and 32%.

Still, some bellwether bank stocks held onto gains despite the turmoil among regional names. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo were last up more than 2% and 1%, respectively. Goldman Sachs dipped 2%.

“Banking system fears are rattling investors right now,” said Ed Moya, an analyst at Oanda. “It’s becoming pretty clear that the Fed’s rate hiking campaign has definitely taken policy to some very restrictive levels, and now some banks are going to really struggle here.”

Investors are also coming to realize the need for smaller banks for a healthy and thriving economy, he added.

Wall Street is coming off a sharp downturn, with the Dow losing more than 500 points Thursday. For the week, the Dow is down 3.6%, on pace for its worst week since September 2022, while the S&P 500 is off 3.5%.

Traders also digested the February jobs report, which gave some hints that inflation could be slowing. Payrolls increased more than expected, but investors focused on the smaller-than-expected gain in wages, which could cause the Federal Reserve to rethink more aggressive on rate hikes.

The 10-year Treasury yield dropped more than 18 basis points to 3.743%. The spike in rates this year has weighed on stocks so that reversal Friday lent some support.