US stocks fall as bank worries linger after firms borrow $165 billion from Fed to shore up liquidity

• US stocks fell on Friday as investor concerns about the current state of the US banking industry linger.
• Banks borrowed $165 billion from the Federal Reserve's backstop program to shore up liquidity.
• First Republic fell 20% after it cut its dividend, and SVB Financial filed for bankruptcy in New York.

US stocks edged lower on Friday as investors continued to worry about the current state of the US banking industry.

The Federal Reserve said late Thursday that it lent a combined $165 billion to various US banks as they took advantage of their emergency backstop policies in a bid to shore up liquidity. The Fed's balance sheet rose by nearly $300 billion over the past week, essentially giving up half the progress it has made in reducing its balance sheet over the past year.

First Republic Bank shored up liquidity via a $30 billion capital infusion from major US banks like JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America, among others. Still, the deal wasn't enough to stem the decline in First Republic Bank's stock, which fell 20% on Friday after it suspended its dividend.

Here's where US indexes stood shortly after the 9:30 a.m. ET open on Friday:

• S&P 500: 3,948.19, down 0.31%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,041.69, down 0.64% (204.86 points)
• Nasdaq Composite: 11,697.80, down 0.17%

Here's what else is happening this morning:

• SVB Financial Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, a week after former unit Silicon Valley Bank was shut down by regulators.
• Credit Suisse shares resumed their decline on Friday, losing hold of the previous day's rally in a sign investors aren't convinced the embattled Swiss banking giant is out of the woods yet.
• Russian fuel has been put into floating storage due to a lack of buyers, with as much as 1.9 million barrels of its diesel stranded at sea.
• Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has urged the Federal Reserve to press ahead with its battle against inflation despite the turmoil caused by Silicon Valley Bank's recent failure.

In commodities, bonds and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 0.82% to $67.79 per barrel. Brent crude, oil's international benchmark, dropped 1.34% to $73.70.
• Gold rose 1.64% to $1,954.60 per ounce.
• The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank 11 basis points to 3.47%.
• Bitcoin rose 3.16% to $26,651, while ether jumped 1.86% to $1,744.