European Shares Slump On SVB Contagion Concerns

(RTTNews) - European stocks fell sharply on Monday, as banks extended their worst two-day selloff in more than five months on concerns over the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse and ahead of the ECB meeting and key U.S. inflation data due this week.

Over the weekend, the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said they would "fully protect" depositors, including those with assets above the federally guaranteed $250,000 limit.

The pan European STOXX 600 was down 1.8 percent at 445.46 after declining 1.4 percent on Friday.

The German DAX and France's CAC 40 index both tumbled around 2.1 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 1.9 percent.

The dollar slipped lower in early European trade after bond yields have fallen in response to the SVB news.

Regional banks fell across the board amid increased concerns over the health of the U.S. banking sector and fears of contagion.

Commerzbank plunged 9 percent, Deutsche Bank slumped 5.3 percent and BNP Paribas lost 4 percent.

HSBC gave up 3.4 percent after it acquired the U.K. subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank for 1 British pound to ensure the continuity of banking services, minimize disruption to the U.K. technology sector and to maintain the confidence in the financial system.

Ricardo, an engineering and environmental consultancy, gained about 1 percent after it acquired 90 percent of the Australian water advisor, Aither Pty Ltd., for 17 million pounds in cash from its founders and co-directors Chris Olszak and Will Fargher.

Insurance firm Phoenix Group lost 3 percent after widening its FY pre-tax loss.

SAP declined 2.4 percent. The German software group has agreed to sell all of its 423 million shares of Qualtrics International Inc. as part of the acquisition of Qualtrics by funds affiliated with Silver Lake as well as Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.