What happened this week

Friday markets dropped more than 1% in a drastic sell off and Monday’s futures are following the same tone, as markets expect to open some 150 points lower. Friday afternoon the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took control of tech-focused lender, Silicon Valley Bank, following a run on deposits which collapsed the bank. The rapid demise of SVB started mid week when the lender was forced to take a big loss on bond holdings in order to free up liquidity for customer withdrawals. After announcing a nearly $2 billion loss selling assets, tech clients of the lender rushed to pull their deposits, and the share price nosedived sealing the fate of SVB. The FDIC has said that SVB depositors will have access to their money starting today, Monday. But the wider market consequences have already started to take affect, bank stocks and financials are all lower in the pre market, First Republic leading the decline, down more than 60%.

Rivian wants out of its exclusive agreement with Amazon for the EV maker’s electric delivery trucks. Rivian last month touted 10 million packages delivered via the Amazon vans. The EV maker is ramping up production of the vans and its R1 series vehicles, and is also in need of cash. Rivian and Amazon struck a deal in 2019 to hand over 100,000 electric trucks to the e-commerce giant. Amazon began delivering packages with the vehicles in July, and Rivian last month touted 10 million packages delivered via the vans.

Looking ahead to this week:

Tues Mar 14th: Consumer Price Index

Wed Mar 15th: Retail Sales, Producer Price Index

Thurs Mar 16th: Housing Starts, Building Permits

Fri Mar 17th: Industrial Production, US Leading Economic Index