S&P downgrades US banks credit ratings, shares drop
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S&P downgrades banks' ratings citing financing concerns, a greater reliance on brokered deposits, deposit withdrawals, and increased interest rates as reasons.
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Visitors to the financial district walk past the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, in New York. (AP)
United States bank shares dipped Tuesday after S&P Global joined Moody's in downgrading credit ratings on certain regional lenders with significant commercial real estate (CRE) exposure.
The credit rating company's move will make borrowing more costly for a banking sector aiming to recover from a crisis earlier this year when three regional banks collapsed.
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According to David Wagner, a portfolio manager at Aptus Capital Advisors, "Some of the structural aspects for banks, regarding their balance sheet, remain risks to banks, as the Fed continues to try to anchor inflation with higher rates for longer."
S&P downgraded Associated Banc-Corp (ASB.N) and Valley National Bancorp (VLY.O) on Monday due to financing concerns and a greater reliance on brokered deposits, while it also downgraded UMB Financial Corp (UMBF.O) and Comerica Bank (CMA.N), citing deposit withdrawals and increased interest rates as reasons for the downgrades. KeyCorp's (KEY.N) ratings were also downgraded by the rating agency due to limited profitability.
The rating seemed to hurt the equities of big banks like JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) and Bank of America (BAC.N) who both saw their shares fall about 2%.
Citigroup (C.N), Wells Fargo (WFC.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), and Morgan Stanley (MS.N) all fell around 1%.
Shares of KeyCorp, Comerica, and Associated Banc-Corp fell more than 3%, while Valley National and UMB Financial fell 2% to 4%.
S&P also downgraded S&T Bank and River City Bank to "negative" from "stable", citing increased CRE risk.
Insuring banks in the US has also become more costly, as Goldman Sachs' five-year credit default swaps jumped to 78 basis points on Tuesday, up from 77 bps on Monday, close to the highest level in a month, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
S&P's decision comes only weeks after Moody's downgraded 10 US banks and warned of impending downgrades for many significant institutions.
Interest rate rises by the Federal Reserve have increased bank costs since banks must now pay more interest on deposits to deter consumers from finding higher-yielding alternatives.
According to Brian Mulberry, client portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, the downgrades "are mainly focused on the liquidity concerns now raised by multiple agencies where banks have a lot of loan portfolios that are only drawing 2.5-4.5% in interest income while now needing to pay depositors 4.5-5.5% in savings and money market accounts."
Despite the pressures shown by the downgrades, there is no imminent systemic danger to the banking industry, he noted.
Last week, an analyst at Fitch, the third and final major rating agency, warned CNBC that numerous US banks, including JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), might face downgrades if the sector's "operating environment" worsened further.
