Banks could turn to stricter lending practices and nullify need for Fed tightening, Yellen says
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen thinks banks could become more restrictive with lending which could allow the Fed to stop hiking interest rates.
Yellen told CNN on Saturday that the threat of further fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has been sustained thanks to successful policy actions, while outflows have substantially stabilized.
“Banks are likely to become somewhat more cautious in this environment,” Yellen said. “We already saw some tightening of lending standards in the banking system prior to that episode, and there may be some more to come.”
And if more of that tightening does come to fruition, Yellen added, such action could serve as “a substitute for further interest rate hikes that the Fed needs to make.”
— Brian Evans
These are some of the companies reporting quarterly earnings this week
Wall Street is coming off a winning week
Despite Friday’s losses, the major averages posted solid weekly gains, in yet another sign of resiliency for this market.
The Dow rose for a fourth straight week, advancing 1.2%. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, meanwhile, notched their fourth weekly advance in five weeks, climbing 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.
— Fred Imbert