“The stock market is never obvious. It is designed to fool most of the people, most of the time”- Jesse Livermore —

1. Yellen Says US Will Intervene If Needed to Protect Smaller Banks — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on last week the US government could repeat the drastic actions it took recently to protect bank depositors if smaller lenders are threatened. US authorities took extraordinary steps earlier this month to bolster that confidence following the collapses of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Regulators guaranteed insured and uninsured deposits at the two institutions. The Federal Reserve also launched a new backstop for lenders and altered rules at its emergency lending facility — the so-called discount window — to help them meet deposit withdrawals.
2. Rent Inflation for US Single-Family Homes Drops Near Two-Year Low — rent increases for US single-family homes eased for a ninth straight month in January, pushing the annual rate to the lowest since the spring of 2021, according to CoreLogic. Nationwide, the typical rent for a single-family home rose 5.7% from a year earlier, data from the real estate analytics provider show. All 20 major metro areas tracked by CoreLogic posted single-digit annual rent increases, for the first time since late 2020.
3. Fed Raises Rates but Nods to Greater Uncertainty After Banking Stress — the Federal Reserve approved another quarter-percentage-point interest-rate increase but signaled that banking-system turmoil might end its rate-rise campaign sooner than seemed likely two weeks ago.
The decision Wednesday marked the Fed’s ninth consecutive rate increase aimed at battling inflation over the past year. It will bring its benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 4.75% and 5%, the highest level since September 2007. The policy statement said it was too soon to tell how much recent banking stress would slow the economy. “The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient,” the statement said. “Recent developments are likely to result in tighter credit conditions for households and businesses and to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects is uncertain.”
4. Deutsche Bank Stock Tumbles on Contagion Fears — Investors sparked a selloff in Deutsche Bank AG DB -4.20%decrease; red down pointing triangle and thrust one of Europe’s most important lenders into the center of concerns about the health of the global financial system. The concern over Deutsche Bank emerged days after Credit Suisse Group AG was forced into a takeover by its larger and more stable rival UBS Group AG. Since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the U.S. earlier this month, investors have scoured the globe for institutions perceived as vulnerable. Deutsche Bank sits at the heart of the German economy. Despite years of retrenchment to make the bank smaller and safer, it remains a globally vital bank, with a major footprint on Wall Street trading bonds, derivatives and currencies. It serves multinational companies with bread-and-butter basics of lending, managing money and corporate accounts.

The week ahead — Economic data from Econoday.com: