Shares of banks and other financial institutions fell slightly amid signs that regulations on the sector may be tightened in response to the recent failure of some major lenders.
Two top financial regulators, Federal Reserve head of bank supervision Michael Barr and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. head Martin Gruenberg advocated revisiting rule changes enacted by their predecessors in 2019 easing liquidity rules on banks with assets over $100 billion.
Volatility is likely to plague the financial sector until earnings season, said one strategist.
"We may get a snapshot of what the balance sheets look like for the banks," said Eric Marshall, president of Dallas mutual-fund firm Hodges Capital.
"A lot of these regional and community banks are 'black boxes' and getting to peak in and really take a look at what the balance sheet and profit picture looks like......I think that could be reassuring for the market."
Until then, "I think we're still on crisis watch," said Mr. Marshall. "I think the worst is behind us, but, when the tide goes out, it reveals a lot of weak players out there."
Charles Schwab shares fell amid concerns that clients will continue pulling money out of the brokerage's lucrative "cash sweep" short-term accounts.
Bitcoin continued to fall amid regulatory pressure on some of the leading companies in the niche.
Prosecutors accused FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of conspiring to bribe Chinese government officials to regain access to more than $1 billion in frozen cryptocurrency, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Binance Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao criticized the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's action against the cryptocurrency exchange.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
03-28-23 1703ET
