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Showing posts from March, 2023

Weeks in Review: 6-17 March 2023

Summary and Comment   The past two weeks were packed with information and hot news. First, the banking system failures and instability. On March 8, Silvergate Capital announced that it was going to wind down operations and liquidate its bank. Two days later, U.S. regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank after a bank run by customers. SVB was a major player in the startup ecosystem and among small businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. On March 12, regulators closed Signature Bank in New York over fears it was running out of cash because customers were withdrawing their money (another bank run). The bank was focused on cryptocurrency clients. Banks have very reduced reserve requirements (they are not required to keep much of your money in "the vault"!), thus in the event of a bank run, they quickly run out of cash, and need to sell some of their assets in order to meet the withdrawal demands. However, many of these assets are long-term treasuries, and its value has been decrea...