Plummeting bank stocks lead global selloff as fear of private credit ‘contagion’ hits across equities and the dollar

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• Global markets fell sharply after two U.S. regional banks disclosed exposure to fraudulent loans, sparking fears of wider problems in the private credit market. Bank stocks, Asian and European equities, and the dollar fell. The VIX fear index spiked more than 30%.

S&P 500 futures were down more than a full percentage point this morning, after markets in Asia and Europe sold off heavily in reaction to two small regional U.S. banks that reported exposure to a potentially fraudulent loan worth only $60 million.