Dow rises more than 300 points as investors hope Credit Suisse ...

Last month, Bank of America saw the ratio of inflows to outflows in its small business checking and savings accounts drop to its lowest February reading over the past five years. The bank views the ratio as a proxy for profits.

"The latest data from the National Federation of Independent Business shows that small business sentiment in February ticked up slightly but was still near its decade low," Bank of America economists Anna Zhou and Taylor Bowley wrote in a note to clients last week. "Small businesses are facing crosscurrents, but headwinds from higher costs appear to be blowing slightly stronger than consumer-related tailwinds, leaving profits increasingly squeezed." 

The net account inflow remained positive for January and February combined, however, the bank noted. The inflow-to-outflow ratio for small businesses, based on the bank's internal data, remained lower in 2022 compared to prior years. 

— Pia Singh

New York Community Bancorp surged nearly 40% after news that a subsidiary would take over parts of closed Signature Bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced over the weekend that Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of the company, would take over basically all of Signature's deposits and all 40 of its former branches, as well as some of its loan portfolios.

Signature Bank, a major crypto lender, was closed on March 12 as regulators attempted to prevent the bank crisis that began with Silicon Valley Bank's closure from spreading. Regulators said the same day the bank was closed that all depositors would be made whole.

NYCB

The front-month April WTI Nymex was lower by 1.45% on Monday, trading at $65.75 per barrel. That level is still above Friday's low of $65.17, which was the lowest level since December 2, 2021 when WTI traded as low as 62.43

Brent oil prices also dipped into the red, recently down 0.7%, or at $72.47 per barrel.

— Pia Singh

The banking system "still doesn't have any confidence" despite the UBS buyout of Credit Suisse, according to OANDA's senior market analyst Edward Moya. 

"Despite a couple major weekend attempts to contain the risks hitting the banking system, US stocks are wavering as risk aversion won't be going away until markets are confident that the Fed is done with their rate hiking campaign," said Moya.

"The banking system still doesn't have any confidence as Wall Street tries to send yields sharply lower," Moya added.

The analyst anticipates the Federal Reserve will relax its aggressive monetary policy tightening campaign on its announcement on Wednesday.

"It looks like credit conditions will continue to tighten while monetary policy conditions are expected to loosen as the economy heads to a recession," said Moya.

— Hakyung Kim, Alex Harring

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 193 points, or 0.61%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 0.18%, while the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%.

— Hakyung Kim

DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said Treasury yields have more room to fall amid the unfolding banking crisis.

"Looking at the charts, it seems UST yields have not bottomed," Gundlach said in a tweet Monday morning.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 30 basis points last week, while the rate-sensitive 2-year rate tumbled over 70 basis points during the same period. The decline came as investors flocked to safe haven assets amidst the spreading upheaval in the banking crisis.

The bond king also warned that the rapid steepening of the Treasury yield curve after a sustained period of inversion is "highly suggestive of recession very soon."

Gundlach said last week that the Federal Reserve will still pull the trigger on a small rate hike to save the central bank's credibility.

— Yun Li

Bitcoin climbed to $28,551.73 in early trading, the highest level since June 12, 2022, when bitcoin traded as high as $28,647.91.

Ether reached $1,846.25, the highest level since Aug. 19, 2022, when ether traded as high as $1,879. Coinbase is on pace for its 6th straight daily advance.

The moves came as 2- and 10-year Treasury yields fell to their lowest levels in six months. The U.S. 2-year yield fell to 3.635%, the lowest since Sept. 13, while the U.S. 10-year yield touched 3.291%, the lowest since Sept 12.

— Scott Schnipper, Gina Francolla

Investors should look past near-term pressures on demand at Dell, according to Goldman Sachs.

Analyst Michael Ng initiated coverage of Dell with a buy rating. His price target of $43 implies the stock will gain 15.5% over the next year from where it closed Friday.

"Although we recognize that DELL's business is highly cyclical, we believe DELL's valuation is attractive at 7X NTM P/E and a long-term target of at least 100% FCF to net income conversion to fund shareholder capital returns," Ng said in a note to clients Monday.

CNBC Pro subscribers can click here to read the full story.

— Alex Harring

UBS' takeover of Credit Suisse could bring gains for shareholders, according to Bank of America.

Bank of America analyst Alastair Ryan upgraded U.S.-listed shares of UBS to buy from neutral. Ryan also increased his price target to $24.81 from $22.65. His new target implies the stock could rally 36.3%.

"The industrial logic is impeccable: CS was the closest competitor to UBS in wealth management and Switzerland; and both banks are heavy in Swiss central costs," he said in a Monday note to clients.

Meanwhile, others on Wall Street see an opportunity for U.S. banks.

"To us, this merger further displays that the largest U.S. capital players can continue to gain global market share, as they've done for the past decade," Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo said.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more about what the Street thinks about the deal and its ramifications across a sector in crisis here.

— Alex Harring

Bitcoin was flat on Monday morning after breaking through the $28,000 level over the weekend for the first time in more than nine months.

The price last inched lower by 0.09% to $28,300.90, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier in the day it traded as high as $28,551.73 for the first time since June 12. It's now up more than 70% year-to-date. Meanwhile, ether lost about 2% to trade at $1,788.70.

Bitcoin's big move higher came around the time news broke that UBS had agreed to buy Credit Suisse, in a deal worth more than $3 billion. That eased worries by investors that the spillover from the U.S. regional banks to larger money center banks would be limited.

The move also raised the stakes for the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision on Wednesday. Some now believe the Fed will ease the pace of its inflation-fighting rate hikes thanks to emerging financial contagion.

— Tanaya Macheel

Evercore Chairman Roger Altman thinks the Federal Reserve could lessen market confidence in the financial system if it holds off on an interest rate hike this week.

"I'm not sure that a pause would instill confidence as compared to undermine," Altman said Monday on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Markets mostly expect the Fed to approve a 0.25 percentage point hike when it concludes its two-day meeting Wednesday. However, it's likely to be a close call, and Altman said policymakers will be watching the news ahead closely.

"I'd like to see the Fed go ahead on a 25 basis point hike, but I honestly don't know what's going to be done and I'm not sure that it won't be affected by the events of the next 48 hours," he said.

—Jeff Cox

The Federal Reserve will shy away from another rate hike on Wednesday because of the stress on the banking sector, according to Goldman Sachs.

"While policymakers have responded aggressively to shore up the financial system, markets appear to be less than fully convinced that efforts to support small and midsize banks will prove sufficient," Goldman economists wrote in a note on Monday.

Prior to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the debate among economists was whether the Fed should hike by 50 basis points or 25 basis points at its next meeting due to high inflation readings in recent weeks.

— Jesse Pound

First Republic

First Republic has already lost 80% this month after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank caused investors to become concerned about other regional banks with large uninsured deposits.

However, the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF was up 0.93% in premarket trading.

— Michelle Fox, John Melloy

European stock markets reversed higher Monday morning as investors digested news of UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index last traded 0.5% higher, while Germany's DAX rose 0.7% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.3%. These benchmarks initially opened lower with bank shares leading the losses.

— Yun Li

U.S.-traded shares of UBS and Credit Suisse were down on Monday before the bell.

UBS shares fell more than 4% as of 7:19 a.m. ET. The stock had previously dipped 5.5% during Friday's trading session. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse shares tumbled almost 59% during premarket trading.

The declines come after UBS announced it would buy Credit Suisse as part of a cut-price deal in an effort to stem the risk of contagion to the global banking system.

— Hakyung Kim

Traders at JPMorgan said in a note Monday it's "most likely" that any stock market rally should be faded at this point.

"At this time a sustained rally seems difficult to come to fruition," they wrote. "Longer-term, to achieve a rally, we need inflation materially lower (say 3.5% or less), earnings to accelerate higher, and you need the banking crisis solved. Any near-term rally is likely driven by light positioning and rotation within Equities toward Tech/MegaCap Tech which has an outsized impact at the index level."

"A recession seems to be a certainty given the banking crisis and the expectation for additional 'unknown unknowns' to emerge. Combined, this feels like another bear market rally rather than the beginning of a new bull market," they added.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Bloom

First Republic shares were under pressure once again Monday, down 15% in premarket trading, after S&P cut its credit rating on the regional bank to B+ from BB+ on Sunday.

"The deposit infusion from 11 U.S. banks, the company's disclosure that borrowings from the Fed range from $20 billion to $109 billion and borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) increased by $10 billion, and the suspension of its common stock dividend collectively lead us to the view that the bank was likely under high liquidity stress with substantial deposit outflows over the past week," stated S&P in its note.

FRC premarket

Bank stocks slid at the open Monday, with Credit Suisse and UBS driving the fall.

Banking stocks were down 2.75% by 9:17 a.m. London time, paring some losses.

Credit Suisse shares were down 58%, while UBS recovered slightly to trade 9% lower by 9:17 a.m. London time after the latter agreed to an emergency takeover of its embattled rival.

Other banks also lingered in the red, with ING Groep, Deutsche Bank and Barclays all down over 5%.

— Katrina Bishop

European stocks were lower in early trade as investors assessed a news-filled weekend that resulted in a UBS takeover of Credit Suisse.

The Stoxx 600 index was 1.4% lower at 8:30 a.m. London time, with losses across the major stock exchanges and in all sectors bar utilities.

Stoxx 600 index.

Shares of Australian gold miners surged on Monday morning as gold prices traded near a one year high, bucking the wider trend in Australian markets.

Gold traded at $1,977.70 per ounce on Monday, its highest level since April 2022.

The Bank of Japan predicted inflation could slow this year, according to the central bank's summary of opinions from its March meeting.

"The year-on-year rate of increase in the consumer price index (CPI) is likely to decelerate toward the middle of fiscal 2023 due to the effects of pushing down energy prices from the government's economic measures," the report said.

While the BOJ noted Japan's economy has been "resilient on the whole," it also expressed the need to carry on with its monetary easing policy.

"Until achievement of the price stability target of 2% sufficiently comes into sight, it is necessary for the Bank to continue with the current monetary easing, including yield curve control," the report stated.

Japan's CPI reading for February slowed from a 42-year high to 3.3%.

— Lee Ying Shan

The tech sector was one bright spot last week as the banking crisis rocked markets.

But is it time to buy into the rally? Market pros urge caution — but think some stocks are set to outperform.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

Regional bank shares plunged last week as Wall Street grew anxious over a wider banking crisis.

The SPDR Regional Banking ETF (KRE) declined 6% on Friday, ending the week 14% lower. First Republic was the worst performer among regional banks, with shares plunging 72% in the week through Friday's close.

PacWest fell 19% Friday, while US Bancorp and Western Alliance dropped 9% and 15%, respectively.

— Hakyung Kim

The opportunity in global EVs is massive, with the European market alone set to be worth $300 billion by 2030, according to estimates from Bernstein.

While EV automakers may be an obvious play, Wall Street analysts have named a slew of stock picks across a range of sectors as a way to cash in.

Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Zavier Ong

The FDIC announced a deal to sell "substantially all deposits and certain loan portfolios" of Signature Bank to Flagstar Bank, a subsidiary of New York Community Bancorp.

The agency said Signature's 40 former branches will begin operating under Flagstar's name on Monday.

The agreement involves $38.4 billion of Signature's assets, including $12.9 billion of loans the FDIC said were bought at a discount of $2.7 billion.

It said, however, Flagstar's bid did not include the roughly $4 billion in deposits related to Signature's digital banking business. The agency said it will provide those deposits directly to digital banking customers. The FDIC also said about $60 billion in loans will remain in receivership.

— Christine Wang

UBS finalized an agreement to buy its rival Credit Suisse for $3.2 billion. Swiss regulators played a key role in facilitating the deal in an effort to quell a contagion threatening the banking sector.

Credit Suisse saw its shares tumble last week after its largest investor, the Saudi National Bank, declined to provide additional funding. Despite subsequent measures from Credit Suisse and Swiss regulators to calm investors' fears — including a loan of up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($54 billion) — shares plunged 25.5% by the end of the week.

Under the deal, Credit Suisse shareholders will receive one UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares. The combined bank will have $5 trillion of invested assets, according to UBS.

— Hakyung Kim

Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett has been in talks with senior Biden administration officials in recent days regarding the crisis in the banking sector, according to a report from Reuters. The billionaire investor has been a longtime investor in the financial sector.

The details of the discussions have not been disclosed. The White House and U.S. Treasury declined to comment on the talks, according to Reuters.

— Hakyung Kim