US STOCKS-Wall St climbs as Credit Suisse deal eases worries

U.S. stocks were higher in afternoon trading on Monday after a deal to rescue Credit Suisse and central bank efforts to bolster confidence in the financial system, while investors also weighed the likelihood of a pause in rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this week. UBS late on Sunday agreed to buy rival Credit Suisse for $3.23 billion, in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more turmoil in the banking group.

U.S. stocks were higher in afternoon trading on Monday after a deal to rescue Credit Suisse and central bank efforts to bolster confidence in the financial system, while investors also weighed the likelihood of a pause in rate hikes from the Federal Reserve this week.

UBS late on Sunday agreed to buy rival Credit Suisse for $3.23 billion, in a merger engineered by Swiss authorities to avoid more turmoil in the banking group. Major central banks moved on Sunday to bolster the flow of cash around the world.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank shook markets earlier this month. While the focus remains on banks, "the situation at least for now has passed, and the market is back in somewhat oversold conditions due to this banking crisis, and buyers who sold across the board are now coming back," Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder in New York.

The Credit Suisse takeover helped the market, but U.S.-listed shares of Credit Suisse were down 52% on Monday, while UBS Group shares were up 4.2%. Major U.S. banks were flat to slightly higher in volatile trading, with Morgan Stanley up 1.2%.

Regional bank First Republic Bank was down about 40% following a downgrade by S&P Global and a report of more fundraising that fanned worries about the bank's liquidity despite a $30 billion rescue last week. Trading in shares of the bank was halted several times due to volatility. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 296.8 points, or 0.93%, to 32,158.78, the S&P 500 gained 25.6 points, or 0.65%, to 3,942.24 and the Nasdaq Composite added 21.31 points, or 0.18%, to 11,651.82.

Before the turmoil with the banks earlier this month, many market participants had been factoring in a 50 basis-point interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve at its March meeting this week. Fed funds futures as of Monday were showing a 26.9% probability of the Fed holding its overnight rate at a current 4.5%-4.75% when policymakers conclude a two-day meeting on Wednesday, according to CME's FedWatch Tool.

Among other regional banks, PacWest Bancorp was up 9.1% after the bank said deposit outflows had stabilized, while New York Community Bancorp was up 24.1% after the bank's unit agreed to buy deposits and loans from Signature Bank. The S&P Banking index was up 0.6% and the KBW Regional Banking index was up 1.7%.

Shares of Amazon.com were down 1.9% following the company's plans to slash another 9,000 jobs. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.67-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.03-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 1 new 52-week high and 8 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 24 new highs and 247 new lows.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)