Asia Markets Poised for Drop as Banking Fears Reach Europe

This is CNBC’s live blog that covers Asia-Pacific markets.

As fears persist that a widespread bank crisis could spread to Europe due to the turmoil surrounding global banks, Asia-Pacific markets will fall Thursday.

Credit Suisse

.

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Credit Suisse

The stock market plunged Wednesday after a top Swiss bank investor said that it wouldn't be able provide additional cash because of regulatory restrictions.

The Australian is the most popular Asian country.

S&P/ASX 200

Miners and the banking industry pushed down the country's unemployment rate to 1.78%. The country will publish its February unemployment rate, which is expected to be 3.6%.

The Nikkei futures contract in Japan was at 26,625, in Chicago, while the counterpart in Osaka stood at 26,480.

Nikkei 225's

Last close at 27229.48

Japan will publish its February trade balance data. Expected growth in both imports and exports of 7.1% and 12.2%, respectively.

Major US indexes closed largely lower overnight, with the

Dow Jones Industrial Average

The fall was 0.9%

S&P 500

The loss of 0.7% The

Nasdaq Composite

A small gain was achieved, with 0.05%.

This report was contributed by Samantha Subin, John Melloy, and Alex Harring of CNBC.

Goldman Sachs reduces GDP forecast due to stress on small banks

Goldman Sachs lowered its 2023 forecast for economic growth by 0.3 percentage point to 1.2% on Wednesday. This was due to a decline in lending from small and medium-sized banks in the face of turmoil in the wider financial system.

Analysts believe that small banks will try to maintain liquidity in the event they have to make withdrawals from depositors. This could lead to tightening of bank lending standards, which could impact aggregate demand. They wrote that small and medium-sized banks are important in the US economy.

The firm stated that about half of U.S. industrial and commercial lending is done by banks with assets less than $250 billion. Click

Here

Continue reading.

-- Pia Singh

Credit Suisse: SNB: If necessary, will provide liquidity to Credit Suisse

Wednesday's announcement by the Swiss National Bank was that it would provide a banking giant.

Credit Suisse, liquidity available if required

.

The SNB and Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority jointly stated that Credit Suisse has met the higher capital requirements and liquidity requirements for systemically important banks. If necessary, the SNB will also provide liquidity to the globally active bank.

Credit Suisse shares fell Wednesday as the largest shareholder of the bank said that it would not provide additional financial assistance. Credit Suisse shares that are listed in the U.S. were down 18% last week.

Fred Imbert

Credit Suisse shares fall more than 23% in heavy volumes

Credit Suisse

Shares fell by more than 23% in heavy volume at the opening of the market. The market opened at $1.75, a new record low.

The troubles at the Swiss bank have rekindled the turmoil in financial stocks. This has made it especially difficult for U.S. mid-sized banks. Saudi National Bank, the largest bank investor, stated that it couldn't provide the company's financial needs.

Further financial assistance

.

--Christina Cheddar Berk

Credit Suisse shares tumble

Premarket trading saw the ADR shares of Swiss lender Credit Suisse plummet 21%

Saudi National Bank stated that it was unable to provide additional funding.

Reuters reported.

"We can't because we would increase the rate to 10%. It's a regulatory issue," Ammar Al Khudairy, Chairman of Saudi National Bank, told Reuters Wednesday.

The bank in trouble in Switzerland said

This week, earlier

It had identified "material weaknesses" in the financial reporting it provided for 2022-2021.

-John Melloy

After a quick selloff, several European banks stocks were halted

Numerous European banks were forced to halt Wednesday due to a sharp fall in Credit Suisse shares.

Along with the wider market

.

The shares of Societe Generale and Italy's Monte dei Paschi as well as UniCredit were halted. Credit Suisse fell 20% following the announcement by its largest investor that it would no longer provide any assistance to the bank in trouble.

These moves are made as traders all over the globe struggle with the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse.

Beata Manthey, Citi strategist, wrote that "the failure of Silicon Valley Bank has spilled over into the European equity markets." While the US authorities have taken precautions to prevent contagion, there is still potential for wider spillovers due to volatility in bank shares.

Manthey pointed out that the conditions are already favorable for profit taking on European markets. "Despite being cut from maximum longs just one month ago, investors are still net long on European Banks. This could mean that positioning could still be unwind.

-- Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom