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ETF Winners & Losers from the Banking Crisis

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Markets have been on a wild ride since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which was the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis and the second-biggest US bank failure in history.

Last weekend, the government and regulators announced a sweeping federal rescue of the industry and assured that all depositors would be fully protected for SVB, as well as Signature Bank, which they decided to shut down due to its vulnerability. Shareholders and certain debtholders of the two banks will not be bailed out.

Investors, however, dumped all banks, and smaller regional banks with large amounts of uninsured deposits were the worst hit amid fears of a widening banking contagion.

Shares of First Republic Bank surged by about 40% today after losing more than 80% since the start of the crisis. The move comes after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government could backstop more deposits if necessary to stop contagion.

As bank ETFs suffered their worst declines since 2008, investors piled into safe-haven assets. The crisis could force the Fed to change its rate hike plans for the rest of the year, which could benefit these areas.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE - Free Report) and the iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF (IAT - Free Report) have plunged 18% and 23% respectively since the crisis started.

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO - Free Report) is up over 35% as Bitcoin has surged to its highest levels since June. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD - Free Report) has gained over 8%.

Many investors also see cash-rich technology companies as safe options amid turmoil. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT - Free Report) and NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) are up more than 10%  over the past 10 days, sending broad technology ETFs like the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW - Free Report) up over 5%.

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