“I’ve had $8,000 in my bank account and I’ve had $8. Let me tell you, the $8 lasted longer.” $42 billion in deposits didn’t last long in Silicon Valley Bank. Until lunch, basically, as money was silently transferred to other depositories in a matter of hours. Western Alliance is in the headlines today, and at another “headline” bank, First Republic Bank’s stock price plummeted down but has leveled off since, although the stock is trading at such a discount to book value that there is talk of a buyer coming in, or the government finding one. The financial turmoil that erupted from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Credit Suisse (CS), and others roiled the markets but has since simmered down. And the situation makes the job of central banks around the world attempting to engineer a soft landing to avoid a recession more difficult. Events in the banking system might also “contribute to significant tightening in credit conditions over time, and in principle, that means that monetary policy may have less work to do,” Jerome Powell noted. Whether the Fed ends up pulling the trigger on another 25-basis point rate hike in May remains to be seen, as there is a lot of data between now and then. (Today’s podcast can be found here and this week it’s sponsored by Milestones. Giving homeowners an all-inclusive homeownership experience including home value and equity monitoring, home maintenance reminders and how-to articles, cloud-based document storage, one-click access to hire professionals for various projects around the home, and much more. Listen to an interview with Milestones Ashley Terrell on the value prop for borrowers, loan officers, and companies utilizing technology at every step of the homeownership journey.)