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UBS is bringing back its former CEO who oversaw the 2008 bailout to oversee their bailout of rival Credit Suisse.

Let’s keep it concise.

Market Headlines 👀

• Judge rules Google (GOOGL) should be punished for failure to preserve messages about Epic Games case.

• FDIC faces $23B in costs from bank failures, expects big lenders to pay.

• Twitter (TWTR) wins an order for GitHub to share code-leak culprit data.

• UBS (UBS) names Ermotti to return as CEO in wake of Credit Suisse (CS) deal.

• Microsoft (MSFT) patched a Bing vulnerability that allowed snooping on email and other data.

• Elon Musk and others urge AI pause, citing “risks to society.”

• Distress in the office market spreads to high-end buildings.

• US consumer bankers tighten monitoring processes as industry reels.

• SES (SESG) and Intelsat (INTEQ) near deal to create a $10B satellite giant.

• FDIC has hired Newmark to sell about $60B of Signature Bank (SBNY) loans.

• Warner Music (WMG.O) to cut 4% of global staff.

• JPMorgan (JPM), Goldman (GS) plan to start trading private credit loans.

• Binance investors pull $1.6B after CFTC lawsuit.

• Credit Suisse (CS) accused of aiding more tax evasion during broader tumult.

• United Airlines (UAL) reaches contracts with better pay for 30,000 ground workers.

• US 30-Year fixed mortgage rate eases to six-week low of 6.45%.

• US pending home sales unexpectedly rise to highest since August.

• Lucid (LCID) to cut 1,300 jobs in “painful but necessary” move.

• Kia (KIMTF) unveils the first three-row electric SUV.

• BOJ’s key policy architect signals yield curve tweak may come as a surprise.

• US banks' fallout will intensify margin headwinds for Aussie lenders.

• Australian inflation eases, bolstering the case for a rate pause.

• China’s economic planning official sees risks to global growth due to inflation.

• India asks state-run banks to conduct more robust stress tests.

Earnings 💸

• RH (RH)

  • EPS: $2.88 misses (exp. $3.34)

  • Revenue: $772.5M misses (exp. $779.75M)

Recap Around the Street 🧠

US stocks advanced today as risk appetite continued to recover from turmoil in the banking sector. Investors have turned their focus to data on the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) due tomorrow morning (at 8:30am EST).

Both tech and financials led the S&P 500 higher, while the Nasdaq 100 is poised for its best quarter since 2020. For example, Micron Technology (MU) issued a better-than-expected quarterly outlook yesterday. European stocks rose upon the announcement that UBS would be bringing back its former CEO (below). UBS began the morning up 4.5% after its announcement.

Sergio Ermotti, the former CEO of UBS (UBS) who oversaw its dramatic restructuring, has been called back to oversee its acquisition of rival Credit Suisse (CS). Ermotti had left UBS in 2020 after nine years at the helm, taking on the role of chairman at Swiss Re (SREN).

Ermotti is now tasked with making the merger of the two banks a success, a project of national importance for Switzerland and its finance-intensive economy. This morning, the Swiss government presented its 109B-franc ($118B) proposal for UBS’s CS takeover to the country’s parliament for further debate. The combined UBS-Credit Suisse will leave the country with a single globally important bank.

Ermotti’s first stint as CEO at UBS involved slashing thousands of jobs, sharpening the bank’s focus and making it the dominant Swiss financial institution. UBS went on to post profits and grow its stock price, while Credit Suisse grappled with scandals and losses related to high-risk clients. When Ermotti left UBS in 2020, UBS had $32B in revenue, while Credit Suisse’s sales had fallen to $24B.

Market Preview 🎞️

• Thursday, March 30: US Q4 GDP (final); EU Flash inflation (Germany, Spain); EU Economic Sentiment Indicator

• Thursday earnings: EVgo (EVGO) and BlackBerry (BB)

• Friday, March 31: US Core PCE; Michigan consumer sentiment; Canada GDP month-over-month; EU unemployment, Flash estimate inflation for the Euro Area; CPI Inflation (France, Italy); German retail trade and labor report; UK Q4 GDP; SwitzerlandConsumer Price Index

That’s all for today, folks! We’ll be back around the same time tomorrow with a curated list of important news, economic data and market highlights. 

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