Wall Street quiet as stability appears to return for banks

U.S. futures are flat in light trading Tuesday as anxiety over the strength of the global banking sector, triggered by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, eased, according to an Associated Press report.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 shifted between small gains and losses before the bell.

Markets have been in turmoil following Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, the second-largest U.S. bank failure in history, earlier this month, and then the third-largest failure, by New York-based Signature Bank.

The Senate Banking Committee will hold the first formal congressional hearing Tuesday on the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the shortcomings of supervision and regulation, by the Fed and other agencies, that preceded them. The committee will also likely question officials about the government’s response, including its emergency decision to insure all the deposits at both banks, even as the vast majority exceeded the $250,000 limit.