Is the banking crisis over?
Regulators seized control of First Republic Bank early this morning and sold it to JPMorgan Chase, an attempt to curb a two-month crisis that has rattled the financial system.
Is the worst over? Many banks still face tough economic conditions, but no other prominent lenders appear to have a similar set of urgent challenges: First Republic had massive real estate loans that lost value as interest rates rose, and a customer base of wealthy depositors who pulled their funds when the bank wobbled.
“This part of the crisis is over,” said Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive. “For now we should all just take a deep breath.”
So what’s next? My colleague Andrew Ross Sorkin told me that JPMorgan is now seen as the clear savior of the sector when trouble hits. “The question is whether these bank failures will lead to new legislation,” he said. “Have these banks become government-guaranteed utilities? If that is the case, how should they be regulated?”
Did you bank with First Republic? Shareholders and debt holders were wiped out, but customer deposits are safe. Here’s what else to know.
Fighting intensifies in Ukraine
At least two people were killed and 40 others wounded in Russian attacks on the central Ukrainian city of Pavlograd, as other bombardments damaged buildings and energy infrastructure around the country. The missile strikes were the second wide-ranging attack in four days.
The barrage came as Ukrainian forces stepped up efforts to strike Russian targets behind the front lines ahead of an expected push to recapture territory. Slowing Ukraine’s offensive, however, is the soupy spring mud.
Fashion
It’s the party of the year
Designers, celebrities and the fabulously wealthy are descending on the Metropolitan Museum of Art tonight for the Met Gala. This year’s show is in honor of Karl Lagerfeld, the influential designer of Chanel, Fendi and his own line, who died in 2019.
Among the first arrivals to walk the red carpet — which this year is actually beige with red and blue swirls — was La La Anthony (pictured above wearing a one-shoulder white dress with gold chains by Sergio Hudson). Follow our live coverage as the other guests arrive.
“I’m hoping it means something of a reset,” The Times’s chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman told us, referring to the theme. “A return to more toned-down elegance after years when guests’ clothes have gotten more and more costumey, the better to go more and more viral.”
Vanessa said she was also keeping an eye out for an appearance by Lagerfeld’s Birman cat, Choupette, who is rumored to have inherited much of his fortune.
Culture
When sleep becomes art
At the “Black Power Naps” installation at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, visitors are encouraged to take a nap and stretch out on circular beds covered in tie-dyed comforters.
For most of human existence, only the most privileged have had the opportunity to truly rest. Sleep and work were severely disrupted in the pandemic. Now, some artists are looking at sleep as a revolutionary act.
Dinner table topics
Live like a king for $200
Sure, it doesn’t have the luxury of Buckingham Palace or the history of Windsor Castle. But the Prince of Wales Guesthouse — a trio of rustic buildings beside a Romanian village in Transylvania — is the only one of King Charles’s residences where you can book a room, for about $200 a night.
The British king has owned this property since 2008, and he vacations here for a week nearly every May. Guests who visit shouldn’t expect to meet Charles, who will be crowned in a lavish ceremony this week. But anyone who books what is called the Prince’s Room can sleep in his bed.
