U.S. stocks are rising after regional banks stage a rally

By Liz Moyer

Investing.com -- U.S. stocks were rising in late morning trading on Thursday, clawing back earlier losses as regional banks staged a rally.

At 11:37 ET (15:37 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 115 points or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 was up 0.9% and the Nasdaq was up 1.6%.

First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) shares tumbled 25% on fears of a widening bank crisis. The Wall Street Journal reported that big banks including JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) were considering a cash infusion for First Republic. The SPDR® S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) turned positive, up 0.2%. 

Credit Suisse Group (NYSE:CS) shares were up 3.9% after it said it got a credit line up to $54 billion from the Swiss National Bank, helping to bolster liquidity.

The European Central Bank raised rates by a half percentage point, though the Federal Reserve is not expected to follow suit next week. Most futures traders are factoring in a quarter of a percentage point rate increase from the Fed after its meeting.

Complicating efforts to forecast the Fed’s next move, initial jobless claims fell to 192,000 and were lower than the expected 205,000. They were also down from the prior week, an indication of a still-tight labor market despite signs inflation is easing somewhat.

The Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index, a key measure of U.S. manufacturing activity, was below expectations in March, but improved marginally compared to the prior month.

American social media companies were rising on word the Biden administration may try to ban TikTok in the U.S. if the China-based parent of the short-video platform doesn’t divest itself. Shares of Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) rose 1.9% as did Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP), up 6.4%.