bank shares rally after sale of svb deposits and loans us stocks ended mostly higher monday afternoon as investors welcomed waning signs of banking sector stress but remained wary of the potential for further problems as well as the threat of a potential credit crunch the dow on friday ended a backtoback run of weekly declines while the sp 500 and nasdaq composite both saw weekly advances an agreement by first citizens banchshares incfcnca to buy the deposits and loans of failed silicon valley bank helped underpin sentiment as shares of european banks steadied first citizens shares jumped 537 shares of first republic bankfrc gained 118 regional lenders gained ground but finished off early highs with the spdr sp regional banking exchangetraded fund kre rising 09 kre remains down nearly 29 so far in march if market conditions were what they are now back in 2008 the equity market would have been under severe stress but today with a lot of bad news already priced into the market and greater confidence that the fed wont tolerate large levels of stress the equity market is showing remarkable resilience said mark hackett chief of investment research at nationwide in a note that doesnt mean the storm is over frankly this is quite puzzling and any investor who thinks they understand whats going on right now isnt paying attention to the data investors should be careful of listening to those who seem to have everything figured out given the number of moving parts and lack of historical precedent he wrote us equities have been particularly choppy in recent weeks as traders have expressed anxiety about banking sector stress while welcoming the lower bond yields those concerns have delivered seewhy the worst banking mess since 2008 isnt freaking out stockmarket investors  yet this has left the sp 500 stuck near the middle of the 38004200 range it has held for four months and leaves the wall street barometer stuck on either side of its 200day moving average said jonathan krinsky chief technical strategist at btig the tell3 charts show us bank failures causing stockmarket pain beneath the surface this content was created by marketwatch which is operated by dow jones  co marketwatch is published independently from dow jones newswires and the wall street journal