Banking stocks drove European markets lower on Monday as global investors weighed the consequences of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The US lender imploded last week and had its assets seized after a bank run caused its stock to plummet.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index dropped 2.56% at 13:00 GMT, with all major stocks trading in the red. Bank stocks slumped more than 6%, with Commerzbank, BAWAG Group, and Banco BPM among the biggest losers. Credit Suisse plunged 15% in early trading and UniCredit lost 9%, while Deutsche Bank and Raiffeisen Bank both declined by 7%.
The meltdown came despite the news that Britain’s HSBC, which is one of the world’s biggest banks and boasts $2.9 trillion in assets, has agreed to rescue the UK branch of SVB for a symbolic £1, vowing to protect client deposits as part of the deal. Following the announcement, HSBC saw its shares drop 3.5%.
“We’re seeing a liquidity withdrawal – the classic thing that you’d expect following a credit event like what’s happening at SVB. People get scared, reduce exposure to equities and move into government bonds,” Haig Bathgate, head of investments at Atomos, told Bloomberg.
https://www.rt.com/business/572907-us-banking-crisis-european-stocks/
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
