Morgan Stanley’s top investment officer has warned that investors shouldn’t see the bailout of Silicon Valley Bank’s uninsured depositors as a reason to get bullish on stocks, predicting a “vicious” final stretch to the current bear market marked by sharp price declines and few opportunities to hedge portfolios against losses.
The lightning-fast collapses of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank sparked fears of contagion and prompted the Federal Reserve to roll out an emergency lending facility for banks and led the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) to waive its $250,000 deposit insurance cap and provide blanket coverage to all depositors at the failed institutions.