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“Our capital and our liquidity basis are very strong,” Credit Suisse CEO Ulrich Korner said on Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing an interview with CAN.

The comments came as the Swiss bank’s share price plunged 30% during the session.

“We basically meet and exceed all regulatory requirements,” Korner said.

– Jenny Reed

Credit Suisse is the “Lehman moment” for European and world markets, steep economist Nouriel Roubini books on Twitter.

“Too big to fail and too big to save,” he added. “It is not even clear what their various unrealized losses on securities and other assets are.”

Roubini also republished comments he made two days earlier, in which he said there was a “risk of global contagion” from a “very fragile” large European bank.

“I didn’t want to cause a run and I didn’t mention it [Credit Suisse] But now this danger is out in the open and the infection is really severe.”

– Jenny Reed

John Ricciardi, Head of Global Asset Allocation at Deuterium Capital Management, discusses the implications of the US banking failure and the near-term outlook for the economy.

Ross Mould, chief investment officer at AJ Bell, said European banks are facing a meltdown due to continued concerns about the collapse of the Silicon Valley bank, the path of interest rates, bank margins and asset characteristics.

But Credit Suisse is “increasingly targeted by risk-averse investors” amid the ongoing turmoil.

“Investors have become bullish on banks thanks to hopes of a soft landing, declining inflation and a pause or pivot in central bank policy,” he said in e-mailed remarks.

“This pivot may be coming but not for the reasons investors were expecting, due to the uncertainty raised by the SVB collapse and the possibility that central banks may have already pushed interest rates to levels where the economy or the financial system (or both) would collapse under unforeseen strain.

“As a result, investors limit exposure to risk, and a scandal-ridden bank is one place they might be careful to avoid under such circumstances.”

– Jenny Reed

European banks are down 6.66% midday in London.

The Credit Suisse news is driving the sector lower, said Carlo Franchini, head of institutional clients at Banca Ifigest.

However, he added, “I think that the Credit Suisse crisis can be resolved and the bank will not be allowed to move,” according to what was reported by Reuters.

– Jenny Reed

Credit Suisse shares were down 23.79% around 11am London time. Trading was halted several times by the stock exchange operator as the stock fell.

The price stopped at $1.7430 after 11 am London time.

– Hannah Ward Glinton

Trading in shares of several European banks including Credit Suisse, Societe Generale, Monte dei Paschi and Italy’s UniCredit has been halted as prices plunge.

Credit Suisse fell as much as 21% at around 10.33am London time, followed by Societe Generale which fell 9.9%.

– Hannah Ward Glinton

Shares of beleaguered Credit Suisse hit an all-time low for the second consecutive day, dropping as much as 10% at around 9.47am London time on Wednesday.

Investors are assessing the impact of the bank’s announcement on Tuesday that it discovered “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting processes for 2022 and 2021.

– Hannah Ward Glinton and Elliott Smith

Factors including blackouts in South Africa, war in Ukraine and increased production of hybrid cars could drive up platinum prices in 2023.

Investment bank UBS has revised its forecast for the price of platinum in 2023, estimating that the precious metal will cost $1,150 an ounce for June, up from a previous estimate of $1,100, and reach $1,200 an ounce in December.

“The bottom line is that we expect significant growth of 24% year-over-year in terms of total demand,” Ed Sterk, director of research at World Investments Platinum Council, told CNBC, “but supply will only increase.” 13% compared to last year.

The full story is available here.

– Hannah Ward Glinton

Shares of French logistics company Bollore rose 8% in early trade after the company decided to launch a cash tender offer on its shares.

It will aim to acquire just over 288.6 million shares, representing 9.78% of its share capital, according to a company press release.

IG Group fell to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 in early trading after third-quarter net trading revenue fell due to market volatility and the company saw a 5% drop in active client numbers.

The online trading organization reported revenue for the latest quarter that was 7% lower than the same quarter in the previous year.

European stock markets opened lower, with banking stocks continuing to fall into negative territory after the global fallout from the Silicon Valley bank.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 Index is down 0.4% in early trading, with most major sectors and stock exchanges trading in the red. Retail stocks led losses, down 1.9%, followed by oil and gas stocks, which fell 1.4%. Banking shares fell 0.5%.

– Hannah Ward Glinton

German automaker BMW said on Wednesday it expects an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin of 8-10% for its range of cars in 2023, with a delivery date set. A slight uptick from 2022. Selling prices are targeted to remain at a “stable” level.

The company reaffirmed the results for the full year 2022 I mentioned last weekincluding EBIT of €10.6 billion ($11.4 billion) for the auto sector, which was a margin of 8.6% last year.

BMW is in the process of mass rollout of battery electric vehicles and expects it to reach more than 50% of BEV share before 2030. The company’s BEV share is set to reach 15% in 2023.

– Ruxandra Yurdach

UBS has named a number of Chinese stocks, which it says has remained “resilient” during periods of heightened geopolitical tensions between the US and China.

In a note to clients on March 13, the Swiss bank said that more market volatility is expected when a possible US ban on investment in some Chinese sectors is announced.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about UBS stock picks here.

– Ganesh Rao

Official data showed that China’s industrial output rose 2.4% in the January-February period.

Retail sales rose 3.55% for the same period, in line with expectations.

Fixed-asset investment in China in the first two months of the year increased by 5.5%, above expectations of economists polled by Reuters who expected growth of 4.4%.

The Chinese intra-yuan weakened after the release of the data and traded at 6.8822 against the US dollar.

The People’s Bank of China kept the interest rate on 481 billion yuan of one-year medium-term lending facility loans at 2.75%.

Worried about contagion from the Silicon Valley bank collapse? Veteran strategist Kenny Polcari believes the impact of the SVB failure will be somewhat limited.

While investors will mostly avoid the banking sector in the short term, Polkari sees “some very interesting opportunities” in the space, as well as in other sectors of the market.

Professional subscribers can read more here.

– Xavier Ong

The markets have had a rocky rally so far, as inflation fears resurfaced and the collapse of the Silicon Valley bank sent investors into a risk-off mode.

Against this background, I used CNBC Pro FactSet to examine stocks on the MSCI World Index and S&P 500 that appear well positioned to withstand volatility and are expected to do well in the future.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the stock here.

– Wizen tan

Moody’s Investors Service moved its view of the US banking system to negative from stable on Monday, citing a “rapidly deteriorating operating environment.”

The move comes as sectors accelerate after the closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Banking stocks rose on Tuesday after falling over the past few sessions as fears of contagion from lockdowns mounted.

“We changed to negative from a stable view of the US banking system to reflect the rapid deterioration in the operating environment following the filings of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank (SNY) and the failures of SVB and SNY,” Moody’s said in a report.

Alex Haring, Jeff Cox

The consumer price index rose 0.4% in February from the previous month, matching Dow Jones estimates. The 6% annual increase was also in line with expectations.

– Fred Imbert

European markets are heading for a mixed open on Wednesday.

Britain’s FTSE 100 is expected to open higher 7 points at 7636, Germany’s DAX index 21 points higher at 15242, France’s CAC 6 points higher at 7144, and Italy’s FTSE MIB down 20 points at 26312, according to data from IG.

Earnings are set to come from Prudential, Balfour Beatty, Lanxess, E.On, Inditex, and H&M. On the data front, Eurozone industrial production figures for January are set to be released.

– Holly Ellytt