LONDON, March 24 ― Global stocks came under pressure today from lingering concerns about the stability of the banking system, while safe-haven buying supported government bonds.
Shares in Deutsche Bank plunged 13 per cent as its credit default swaps, which reflect the cost of insuring debt against the risk of non-payment, climbed to a four-year high. On Wall Street, futures tracking the blue-chip S&P 500 share index fell 0.7 per cent and those on the technology-focused Nasdaq 100 edged 0.4 lower.“People don't want the weekend risk,” said Ed Hutchings, head of rates at Aviva Investors in London.
“I don't expect this volatility to subside anytime soon,” said Peter Doherty, head of investment research at private bank Arbuthnot Latham in London. The Fed raised its main interest rate by a quarter point to a range of 4.5 per cent - 4.75 per cent on Wednesday, but signalled it would consider a pause in light of banking system stresses.As US financial conditions tighten, said Arun Sai, senior multi-asset strategist at Pictet Asset Management, “this takes us closer to a hard landing, to a US recession.”
By midday in London, traders were pricing in US rate cuts of about 105 bps basis points to about 3.9 per cent by the end of the year, up from about 88 bps earlier in the session.