JPM: "$1.1 Trillion Has Exited The Most Vulnerable Banks"
While Powell was scrambling like a headless chicken during his post-FOMC presser, doing everything to keep stocks stable and avoid an overreaction to either side, his peer over at the Treasury, Janet Yellen was actively seeking to unleash chaos and havoc on jittery stocks with comments such as these which predictably sent stocks to session lows just seconds after they were blasted by Reuters and Bloomberg.
YELLEN: NOT TIME YET TO SAY IF FDIC INSURANCE CAP APPROPRIATE
YELLEN: SITUATIONS LIKE RUN ON SVB MAY MORE READILY HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, REGULATIONS MAY NEED RE-THINKING.
YELLEN: DEPOSITS LEFT SVB AT PACE THAT WAS NOT SEEN BEFORE
YELLEN: WE HAD NEVER SEEN DEPOSITS FLEE AT THE PACE THEY WERE WITHDRAWN FROM SILICON VALLEY BANK
Why were these comments particularly destabilizing if not outright idiotic, coming at a time when Powell spent the entire first paragraph of his statement and most of his presser on boosting confidence in bank stability and the sanctity of bank deposits when even a modest selloff in banking stocks drags risk sentiment through the floor?