Wall Street’s main stock indexes closed lower on Friday, amid a sell-off as investors worried about the health of US banks after a regulator forced the closure of a major technology bank, counteracting the impact of the February jobs report.
California’s banking regulator said it had shut down deposit-protection financial group SVB, in the biggest bank collapse since the financial crisis. A capital crisis at SVB had already affected banking stocks globally.
According to preliminary data, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down 56.64 points, or 1.45%, at 3861.78 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 199.20 points, or 1.76%, to close at 11139.16 points.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 342.20 points, or 1.06%, to 31,912.66 points.