Looks like Israel is moving towards the Southern Part of Gaza now. They declared control of Northern Gaza, but still can't find remaining hostages, and Hamas still operating.
Will the remaining ME countries continue to sit and watch?
Also, this is from the FDIC, remarks from Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg, written on 14.11.2023. You can read it on the FDIC website.
State of the Banking Industry The banking industry has proven to be quite resilient despite the period of stress earlier this year. In the second quarter, key banking industry measures of performance remained favorable. Net income remained high by historical measures, asset quality measures were stable, and the industry remained well capitalized. However, banks reported lower net interest margins and higher funding pressures for a second consecutive quarter. Higher market interest rates and mortgage rates caused market values for debt to generally fall during the second quarter, resulting in higher unrealized losses on securities. While the FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile data will not be available until later this month, early reports from third quarter 2023 indicate that the banking industry remains profitable and well-capitalized, that asset quality metrics continue to normalize from the historic lows reached during the pandemic, and that funding cost challenges have persisted, especially for small and mid-sized banks.
As of June 30, 2023, deposits continued to decline for the fifth consecutive quarter, as depositors continue to seek higher yields. However, deposit outflows moderated substantially from the large outflows reported in the first quarter when the industry experienced significant stress and two regional banks failed. In the second quarter, uninsured deposits declined by 2.5 percent, far less than the 8 percent decline reported in the first quarter. By contrast, insured deposits increased by 0.8 percent during the second quarter, driven by higher insured brokered deposits and reciprocal deposits.
There has been a great deal of discussion about deposit flows to the nation’s larger banks, primarily under the assumption that deposits have flowed from regional banks to the largest banks. While deposit balances may have suggested that such flows occurred on a limited basis toward the end of the first quarter, that does not appear to have been the case in the second quarter. The nation’s global systemically important banks reported a decline in total deposits, primarily driven by a decline in uninsured deposits. Rather than a simple story of deposits flowing to the largest banks, the second quarter’s deposit story appears to have been more about depositors seeking higher yields, often at nonbank financial institutions, particularly money market mutual funds. Many banks have increased deposit rates to compete, resulting in higher cost of funds.
In addition, higher interest rates reduce the value of assets that yield a fixed interest rate. Loans and securities with longer maturities and locked-in lower yields may pressure earnings in coming quarters. These longer-term balance sheet holdings further limit the ability of banks to lend, raise capital, or restructure. Market rates continued to increase through the third quarter, likely putting downward pressure on the value of securities portfolios.
The banking industry continues to face significant downside risks from the effects of inflation, rising market interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainty. Moreover, the economic outlook remains uncertain, despite relatively solid growth and low unemployment so far this year. These risks could cause credit quality and profitability to weaken, loan growth to slow, provision expenses to rise, and liquidity to become more constrained. Commercial real estate (CRE) loan portfolios, particularly loans backed by office properties, face challenges when loans mature as demand for office space remains weak and property values continue to soften. Banks have tightened underwriting standards over the past year across a range of household and business loans, and they may continue to tighten further this year.
The FDIC will continue to monitor prevailing trends in the banking industry and will publicly release data for the third quarter of this year as part of the Quarterly Banking Profile.
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He also summarised on the bank failures and their receivership this year.
(20min delay)