Investors wiped $52.4bn off the market value of the four largest US banks by assets on Thursday amid a widespread sell-off of financial stocks that analysts linked to investor fears over the value of lenders’ bond portfolios.
The sell-off in JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo appeared to have been sparked by difficulties at Silicon Valley Bank, a small, technology-focused lender.
Late on Wednesday, SVB revealed it had lost roughly $1.8bn following the sale of a portfolio of securities valued at $21bn, which it offloaded in response to a decline in customer deposits. The losses prompted the bank to announce a share sale to shore up its capital position.