Weekly news summary for March 10 to March 16

Friday, Mar. 10: US Banking Regulators Close Silicon Valley Bank

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced on Friday that Californian regulators have shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and appointed the agency as a receiver, in what became the largest US bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis.

Insured deposits from the collapsed crypto- and startup-focused lender are currently held at the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Santa Clara (DINB) created by the FDIC, although it was uncertain what would happen to 89% of SVB’s 175 billion-dollar uninsured deposits.

Monday, Mar. 13: Meta Ends NFT Support on Facebook and Instagram

US tech giant Meta Platforms Inc. announced on Monday its plans to end support for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Facebook and Instagram to focus on other means to support users, ten months after allowing creators to share digital collectibles.

Meta started featuring NFTs on its platforms in May 2022, when it grew significantly popular, but last year’s collapse of crypto exchange FTX led to a major downturn in Bitcoin and other tokens, and the situation has been exacerbated by the recent fall of three US banks, two of which were crypto-focused.

Tuesday, Mar. 14: Oil Prices Hit 2023 Low on Recession Concerns

Oil prices posted sharp losses to end at 2023 low on Tuesday as traders remained concerned over a potential recession after a still elevated US inflation and uncertainty in the financial sector continued following the failure of SVB.

The US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 2.2% to 73.15 dollars per barrel, slightly rising from their intraday low of 72.69 dollars, while Brent crude futures dropped 1.8% to 79.30 dollars per barrel, marking the first time in five weeks the global benchmark traded below 80 dollars.

Wednesday, Mar. 15: Samsung to Invest $230B in New Chipmaking Plant

South Korean electronics major Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced plans to invest 300 trillion won, or about 230 billion dollars, in its new chipmaking base through 2042 as part of a semiconductor cluster that the government said will be the world’s largest facility.

The company’s investment largely makes up the 550 trillion won of the South Korean government’s plan to strengthen the domestic chip industry, which found itself involved in the chip battle between the US and China.

Thursday, Mar. 16: Credit Suisse to Borrow $54B Liquidity from SNB

Troubled Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse Group AG has taken the option to borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs or 53.7 billion dollars from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) under two loan facilities to preemptively improve liquidity.

The company’s move came after its shares dropped as much as 30% to a new all-time low in the previous session, leading to several pauses in the stock’s trading in the morning as it declined below 2 Swiss francs for the first time.