US bank stocks fell by the most in nearly three years on Thursday as investor sentiment surrounding the sector continued to deteriorate.
The KBW Bank Index fell 7.7%, the biggest one-day drop since June 2020. SVB Financial Group was the gauge’s biggest decliner, falling a record 60% after the Silicon Valley-based lender took steps to boost its capital position following losses on its securities portfolio. Other major bank stocks are also lower, along with Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. all slide by at least 5%.
“Bank stocks have traded poorly this week after KeyCorp warned about high deposit betas and the sell-off was boosted on Thursday thanks to double wins by Silvergate and SVB Financial,” said Vital Knowledge founder Adam Crisafulli.
Thursday’s decline completely erased a strong start to 2023 for bank stocks. The KBW Bank Index rose more than 14% to start the year, but declines in four of the past five weeks pushed the benchmark back into the red.
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