Deutsche Bank Share Slide Reignites Worries Among Investors

Shares in Germany’s Deutsche Bank fell by 14% at one point ,with other lenders also seeing big losses.

London’s FTSE 100 ended the day down 1.3%, while stock markets in Germany and France dropped even more sharply,but US fears did not materialise.

After falling early in the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% and the S&P 500 rose almost 0.6%, while the Nasdaq ended 0.3% higher.

The rise came despite declines in shares of big banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.

In Europe, the banks hit by a sell-off from worried investors included Germany’s Commerzbank, which saw shares fall about 5%. France’s Societe Generale ended down about 6% while in the UK, Standard Chartered was the biggest faller, down more than 6%.

Deutsche recovered from its steepest losses but still closed more than 8% lower.

Investment director at AJ Bell Russ Mould,said the drop in Deutsche Bank’s share price, and a sharp jump in the cost of insuring against a possible default by the bank, was “indicative of a wider loss of confidence in the banking sector”.

“There’s a gathering fear that central banks may have overdone it with interest rate increases, having left them too low for too long,” he said.

Central banks slashed interest rates during the 2008 global financial crisis and again when the pandemic hit in 2020 as part of efforts to encourage economic growth.

But over the past year or so authorities have been raising rates sharply to try to tame soaring price increases.

These rate rises have hit the value of investments that banks keep some of their money in, and contributed to the bank failures in the US.

Share prices have fallen across the sector, as high-profile investors warn the collapses are symptoms of deeper problems in the system, with other pockets of distress yet to emerge.

Higher interest rates have also raised the possibility of recession, Mr Mould said, and if that happens, “banks will generally find it pretty hard going”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz defended Deutsche Bank at a news conference  noting that it had “thoroughly reorganised and modernised its business model” and was “very profitable”.

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey also said the UK banking system was “safe and sound”.

BBC/Oyenike Oyeniyi