upgrades

It hasn’t been a good few weeks for banks whose names begin with “Si” (Silvergate, Silicon Valley, and Signature, with Silicon Valley Bank declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning; today’s Rundown discusses how the bank crisis may impact lenders). Ah, those clever secondary marketing folks. Cornerstone’s Henry S. frets, “I can’t believe it’s bank collapse season already. I just finished taking down my train derailment decorations.” Certainly, time flies by, and I hope you’re wearing some green today. Originally a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who introduced Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century, St. Patrick’s Day has evolved into a celebration of all things Irish, with the first parade on March 17, 1762, in New York City, featuring Irish soldiers who served in the English military. It certainly is more fun to think about celebrating the Irish than the constant stream of headlines as people race to conjecture about the health of world banking, and people crying “shoulda woulda coulda.” The markets seem to be performing a stress test on the Fed. The Federal Reserve’s (Fed’s) tightening seems to be finally having an effect, and an early victim has been smaller banks that did a poor job of managing interest rate and deposit concentration risk. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week is sponsored by Richey May, a recognized leader in providing specialized advisory, audit, tax, technology, and other services in the mortgage industry and in banking.)