Last Friday, the US bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) (the 16th largest in the US) went bankrupt and the fear of a financial crisis returned to the agenda.
Yesterday, real fear settled in Europe with the stock market collapse of one of the European giants, Credit Suisse; and it raised many unanswered questions about how stable and solid this bank is, the European market, about whether or not there are dangerous connections and possible contagions to other banking institutions in the euro zone.
Today (Thursday, the 16th), the European Central Bank (ECB) said that it was its “intention” to raise interest rates, as promised, from 3% to 3.5% (central refinancing rate) and the deposit facility from 2.5% to 3%, the most used by euro commercial banks to raise ECB funding currently. But the pressure not to do so is extremely high.
Many experts recommend a halving rise: 0.25 percentage points instead of the promised 0.5 points.
Or else the ECB should open dedicated and special lines of cheaper financing, just for the banks to orient themselves in this troubled moment and the markets to calm down a little.
But, in short, financial market analysts consider that moving forward with interest rate hikes, as if nothing new and bad were happening in the banking sector, is a mistake.
Read more in Dinheiro Vivo
