Shares in the US financial and brokerage company Charles Schwab tumbled on Monday, as concerns rippled through the financial sector due to the recent collapse of tech and start-up-focused Silicon Valley Bank and crypto-related Signature Bank.
The Texas-based financial services corporation’s stock slumped by more than 20% during Monday trading, representing the company’s worst one-day sell-off since April 2000.
The wipeout came as the company touted its resilience after a reported 28% decline in average margin balances in February from a year earlier. In a statement, Schwab’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Crawford reassured shareholders and clients that cash outflows hadn’t accelerated this month compared to February, noting that 80% of the brokerage’s deposits are insured by the US government.
“These outflows reflect a continuation of client decisions to reallocate a portion of their cash into higher-yielding cash alternatives within Schwab,” he wrote. “Based on our ongoing analysis of these trends, we still believe client cash realignment decisions will largely abate during 2023.”
Schwab is ranked eighth among US banks by assets, with $7.05 trillion in client funds and 33.8 million active brokerage accounts at the end of last year. Some analysts say it is unlikely that Schwab will face a run like SVB did, due to its robust liquidity.
“Many banks and companies with related banking entities, such as Charles Schwab, also have a material amount of fixed income securities on their balance sheet with unrealized losses, as recently rising interest rates have decreased the value of fixed income securities,” Morningstar analyst Michael Wong wrote in a note last week.
The selloff of Schwab’s stock was triggered by recent failures in the US banking sector, with three lenders going bust in less than a week.
California-based, crypto-focused Silvergate was the first to announce its liquidation last Wednesday, followed by the implosion of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday. Signature Bank was the third significant lender to face ruin in the largest US bank collapse since the financial crisis of 2008. Bank failures have sparked concerns over the health of the entire US banking system, with many other lenders seeing their stocks plunge.
https://www.rt.com/business/572912-us-charles-schwab-shares-slump/
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Intelligence Unit says Iran will consider the Israeli regime’s shelters “legitimate targets” if residential areas in the country come under attack.
In a post published on social media platform X on Tuesday, the IRGC said that any strikes on residential areas in Iran would give Iran’s armed forces the right to attack Israeli shelters in the occupied lands.
The IRGC stated that it has intelligence on the blueprints and the exact locations of these shelters.
Iran began its Operation True Promise 4 after the US and Israel launched their joint military aggression against the Islamic Republic in late February by assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, and several senior Iranian officials.
In its latest wave of attacks, the IRGC said it rained down missiles on the Israeli regime’s “secure” intelligence facilities in Tel Aviv.
Iranian armed forces have also pounded American military bases and ...
In a fresh wave of retaliatory strikes, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the Israeli regime’s “secure” intelligence facilities in Tel Aviv.
The IRGC’s Public Relations Department said in a statement on Tuesday that it had carried out the 79th wave of its ongoing retaliatory Operation True Promise 4 against the Israeli and American targets.
Deploying powerful Kheybar Shekan, Emad, and Sejjil missiles alongside IRGC Aerospace Force kamikaze drones, the operation successfully breached the regime's multi-layered air defense systems, the statement said.
The missiles, it stated, targeted Israel’s intelligence facilities in northern and central Tel Aviv, as well as military commercial and support centers in Ramat Gan and the Negev.
The missiles also hit Israel’s southern military logistics and command headquarters in Beersheba.
The missile strikes triggered widespread panic across Israel and forced the suspension of a Knesset (parliament) session on Tuesday.
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The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announces staging the 78th wave of its underway retaliatory Operation True Promise 4, targeting such highly sensitive Israeli targets as Dimona, Tel Aviv, and Eilat as well as several US military bases in the region.
In a statement on Tuesday, the IRGC described the latest phase of the operation as a significant development featuring missiles raining down on enemy targets as the nation was leveling momentous support behind the Islamic Republic by attending millions-strong rallies with "clenched fists."
'A distinct record'
The latest phase, it noted, "has set a distinct record in the timeline of the war."
According to the statement, targets in the occupied port of Eilat, Dimona, a heavily fortified city that hosts the Israeli regime's notorious nuclear reactor in its vicinity, and northern Tel Aviv were struck using Emad and multi-warhead Qadr missile systems along with attack drones.
This was the second time the Corps was hitting Dimona, ...
