| USD = R18.24 | AUD = R12.13 |
| GBP = R22.19 | DXY = 103.95 |
| EUR = R19.54 | Brent Crude = $79.69 per barrel |
US President Joe Biden released this statement, “Over the weekend, and at my direction, the Treasury Secretary and my National Economic Council Director worked diligently with the banking regulators to address problems at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. I am pleased that they reached a prompt solution that protects American workers and small businesses, and keeps our financial system safe. The solution also ensures that taxpayer dollars are not put at risk. The American people and American businesses can have confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them”.
The most important event on the economic calendar ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting this month is no longer the latest reading on inflation. Tuesday’s consumer price index reading is being overshadowed by turmoil in the banking industry. Silicon Valley Bank on Friday became the biggest US lender to fail in more than a decade just days after Silvergate Capital Corp. announced it was shutting its bank. Then on Sunday, New York state financial regulators seized Signature Bank.
The collapses led the Fed to launch a new emergency program to backstop banks. The Federal Reserve Board on Monday announced that Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr is leading a review of the supervision and regulation of Silicon Valley Bank, in light of its failure. The review will be publicly released by May 1. 2023.
U.S. bond yields have plummeted since last Thursday amid a dovish reassessment of the Fed’s policy outlook following SVB’s demise, the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Local market data today sees our mining and manufacturing stats for January at 11:30 and 1pm respectively.