stocks, data, news and earnings

Shares of several European banks, including Credit Suisse, Société Générale and Italy’s Monte dei Paschi and UniCredit, have been halted as prices plummeted.

Credit Suisse fell as much as 21% by 10:33am London time, followed by Societe Generale, which fell 9.9%.

—Hannah Ward Glenton

Factors such as power cuts in South Africa, the war in Ukraine and the increased production of hybrid cars could cause platinum prices to rise in 2023.

Investment bank UBS has revised its price forecast for platinum in 2023 and estimates the precious metal will cost $1,150 an ounce in June, up from a previous estimate of $1,100, and reach $1,200 an ounce in December.

“The key point is that we expect a pretty significant 24% year-over-year growth in terms of aggregate demand,” Ed Sterck, director of research at the World Platinum Investment Council, told CNBC, but supply will only increase by 13% compared to last year.

The full story is available here.

—Hannah Ward Glenton

Shares of French logistics company Bollore rose 8% in early trading after the company decided to make a cash offer for its own shares.

According to a company press release, it would aim to acquire a maximum of just over 288.6 million shares, representing 9.78% of the share capital.

IG Group fell to the bottom of the Stoxx 600 index in early trading after net trading income fell lower in the third quarter due to market volatility and the company experienced a 5% drop in active customers.

The online trading organization reported a turnover in the most recent quarter that was 7% lower than in the comparable quarter last year.

European equity markets opened lower, with banking stocks still negative following the global Silicon Valley Bank fallout.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was down 0.4% at the start of trading, with most sectors and major exchanges trading in the red. Retail stocks lost 1.9%, followed by oil and gas stocks, which fell 1.4%. Bank shares fell 0.5%.

—Hannah Ward Glenton

German automaker BMW said on Wednesday it expects an EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin of between 8-10% for its car range in 2023, with deliveries set to rise slightly from 2022. ” level.

The company confirmed full-year 2022 results reported last week, including EBIT of 10.6 billion euros ($11.4 billion) for its automotive segment, which had a margin of 8.6% last year.

BMW is undertaking an extensive rollout of battery electric vehicles and expects to reach a BEV share of more than 50% well before 2030. The company’s BEV share is expected to reach 15% by 2023.

— Ruxandra Iordache

UBS has named a number of Chinese stocks that it says have remained “resilient” during periods of heightened geopolitical tension between the United States and China.

In a note to clients on March 13, the Swiss bank said more market volatility is expected when a possible US investment ban in some Chinese sectors is announced.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about UBS’ stock selection here.

— Ganesha Rao

China’s industrial production rose 2.4% in the period from January to February, official data showed.

Retail sales rose 3.55% over the same period, in line with expectations.

China’s fixed asset investment rose 5.5% in the first two months of the year, higher than expected by economists polled by Reuters who forecast growth of 4.4%.

The Chinese onshore yuan weakened after the data was released, trading at 6.8822 against the US dollar.

The People’s Bank of China kept interest rates on 481 billion yuan of one-year medium-term loans at 2.75%.

Concerned about contagion from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank? Veteran strategist Kenny Polcari believes the impact of the SVB’s failure will be fairly limited.

While short-term investors tend to shun the banking sector, Polcari sees “some very interesting opportunities” in the space, as well as other segments of the market.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

Markets have had a rocky March so far, as inflation fears returned and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank prompted investors to shy away from risk.

Against this background, CNBC Pro used FactSet to screen for stocks on the MSCI World index and S&P 500 that look well positioned to resist volatility and are expected to do well going forward.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about the stock here.

— Weizhen Tan

Moody’s Investors Service on Monday changed its view of the US banking system from stable to negative, citing a “rapidly deteriorating business environment”.

The move comes as the sectors roll in the wake of the closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. Bank stocks staged a comeback on Tuesday after slipping over the past few sessions as contagion concerns swirled through the closures.

“We have changed our outlook for the US banking system to negative from stable to reflect the rapid deterioration in the business environment following deposit runs at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank and Signature Bank (SNY) and the bankruptcies of SVB and SNY, Moody’s said in a report.

— Alex Harring, Jeff Cox

The consumer price index rose 0.4% in February from the previous month, in line with an estimate by Dow Jones. The year-over-year increase of 6% was also in line with expectations.

— Fred Imbert

European markets are heading for a mixed open Wednesday.

The UK FTSE 100 index is expected to open 7 points higher at 7,636, the German DAX 21 points higher at 15,242, the French CAC 6 points higher at 7,144 and the Italian FTSE MIB 20 points lower at 26,312, according to data from IG.

Revenue will come from Prudential, Balfour Beatty, Lanxess, E.On, Inditex and H&M. On the data front, Eurozone industrial production data for January will be released.

— Holly Ellyatt