Global bank stocks shiver as US credit risks spark checks

Fear over credit quality in US regional banks rippled through markets on Friday, dragging global financial stocks lower and reviving memories of the crisis of confidence that shook sentiment just over two years ago.

- Reuters

The selloff hit Wall Street's main indices, with futures pointing to a weaker open, deepening investor anxiety that was already heightened by escalating US-China trade tensions and renewed worries about the global economic outlook.

The banking sector’s exposure to two recent US auto bankruptcies has rekindled concerns about lending standards more than two years after Silicon Valley Bank's failure, when high interest rates drove paper losses on its bonds and sparked a global bank stocks rout.