NEW YORK, March 20 — Wall Street stocks had a mixed opening today, after another turbulent weekend for global banks that saw Switzerland's biggest bank UBS agree to buy Credit Suisse for more than US$3.2 billion.
But shares in embattled US lender First Republic continued their decline, plunging more than 19 per cent in early trading, before recouping some losses to trade down around 14 per cent.
Around 20 minutes into trading, the S&P 500 was 0.3 per cent higher at 3,929.37 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 0.9 per cent to 32,155.44.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.4 per cent at 11,581.54.
"The market remains somewhat skittish," Spartan Capital chief market economist Peter Cardillo said in an interview shortly before markets opened.
"UBS taking over Credit Suisse is not really calming investors," he added.
"I kind of think we're looking at a mixed market performance today with the banking turmoil still in play," he said.
US stocks have taken a hit since the abrupt collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this month on the back of excessive interest-rate risk taking.
American regulators have enacted a number of significant measures in response, the most recent of which coming on Sunday afternoon when they announced a coordinated effort with other central banks to boost banks' access to liquidity. — AFP