Europe battles to shake off nagging banking concerns

The dollar remained under pressure and world share markets were trying to stay positive on Thursday, as ongoing rumbles in the U.S. banking system kept investors cautious ahead of a barrage of top-tier European and U.S. data.

London, Paris and Frankfurt stocks nudged into positive territory as reassuring earnings from UK bank Barclays, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and consumer goods giant Unilever added to Facebook owner Meta’s upbeat overnight results.

UniCredit also brought a sigh of relief as it redeemed an ‘AT1’ bond in the market’s first test since Credit Suisse’s collapse wiped out its AT1s, raising questions about their worth as a capital tool more broadly.

Elsewhere, the mood was still nervy.

The latest U.S. bank in the crosshairs, First Republic Bank , looked set for a 5% gain in its shares following a brutal sell-off this week that has wiped out 60% of its value.

The yield, or cost of borrowing, on the 1-month Treasury bill headed higher again on concerns the U.S. could hit its self-imposed debt limit in the coming months, while oil traders licked their wounds after some heavy falls on Wednesday.

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