CNBC Daily Open: Nothing broke yesterday. The markets cheered

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our new newsletter for international markets. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Do you like what you see? You can login Here.

US stocks rallied on Wednesday as both banks and Big Tech rallied. For markets still reeling from the banking crisis, no news is good news.

• The new (and former) CEO of UBS, Sergio Ermotti, is known for it turning around a troubled bank – which is why he was hired to oversee the merger with Credit Suisse, UBS said. Traders liked the bank’s new leader – Swiss-listed UBS shares rose 3.72% and US-listed shares rose 4.31%.

• And restoring confidence in a troubled bank is exactly what UBS needs to do when it buys Credit Suisse, according to a report released by the US Senate Treasury Committee on Wednesday. It claimed that Credit Suisse has been helping wealthy American clients dodge US taxes for years, even after the bank pleaded guilty to those very allegations in 2014.

• A group of technology leaders and academics including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Yuval Noah Harari wrote one open letter Calls on artificial intelligence labs to “stop training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4”. They believe that if AI is allowed to evolve at its current pace without security protocols, it could result in humans “losing control of our civilization.”

• PROFESSIONAL The banking turmoil has hit regional banks hard – some have lost more than 30% in value this month. But Goldman Sachs said there are some regional banks that could emerge as winners from the turmoil.

Yesterday was an excellent day for equities and the biggest bank news was positive (maybe not for outgoing UBS CEO Ralph Hamers, but definitely in terms of shareholder value). Could we finally turn a corner after three turbulent weeks?

First, the new (old) CEO of UBS. Both analysts and investors liked the choice of the Swiss bank. As Beat Wittmann, a partner at Porta Advisors in Zurich, told CNBC, Ermotti “is proven and trusted from the perspective of the general public as well as the industry.” Investors agreed – UBS shares skyrocketed in both Switzerland and the US

The appointment appeared to allay fears of further banking turmoil. In the US, banks rose on the news. Citigroup climbed 1.61%, Wells Fargo 2.12% and Morgan Stanley 1.6%. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) is up 1.07%.

After a two-day slide, Big Tech also recovered. The biggest gainers yesterday: Amazon was up 3.1%, Netflix was up 2.63% and Meta was up 2.33%. Investors may have been encouraged by Alibaba’s split into six entities that could serve as a model for other big tech companies.

Micron’s report that the company’s inventory problems are improving helped its shares soar 7.19% and led to a rally in semiconductor stocks — a performance that’s even more impressive considering the company is a larger than announced expected loss for the last quarter.

All major indices gained on these moves. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1%, the S&P 500 was up 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.8%. Obviously, market sentiment was high yesterday, although there was no clear reason for it. Or maybe it was just the lack of a significant event that cheered up the markets. As Ed Yardeni, President of Yardeni Research, put it, “Any day that doesn’t break is a good day.”

Subscribe to Here to get this report straight to your inbox every morning before the market opens.