[Featured Stock] Yellen-Driven Rally... Domestic Bank Stocks Recovering

Bank stocks, which had been shaken by the recent Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) bankruptcy crisis, showed signs of recovery in early trading on the 22nd. The market appeared to be relieved after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed her willingness to provide additional guarantees for bank deposits overnight.

As of 9:50 a.m. that day, Jeju Bank was trading at 17,890 KRW, up 2.46% from the previous trading day. Following were JB Financial Group (1.73%), KB Financial Group (1.55%), and Shinhan Financial Group (1.29%), all showing upward trends.

Earlier, Secretary Yellen stated, "Even if small banking institutions experience deposit withdrawals that could spread a crisis, the government will guarantee measures similar to the current government's actions (deposit protection)." In response, First Republic Bank surged 29.47% in the U.S. stock market overnight, while PacWest Bank (18.77%), KeyCorp (9.34%), Comerica (9.11%), and Truist Financial (9.03%) also rose sharply.

The four major U.S. banks?JP Morgan Chase (2.68%), Bank of America (BoA, 3.03%), Citigroup (2.29%), and Wells Fargo (2.67%)?also closed with gains across the board.