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By Manya Saini (Reuters) -After a turbulent week in which some regional U.S. banks flagged bad loan and fraud issues, investors are now awaiting for more earnings reports from the lenders to check for signs of a wider strain across the sector. Since the 2023 banking crisis, investors have little patience for uncertainty, analysts said. Even isolated loan or fraud troubles now trigger broad-based selloffs as traders rush to reduce exposure. "Years of easy credit and low transparency have left investors uncertain about where risks truly lie, even small negative surprises can spark outsized repricing," Tim Hynes, Global Head of Credit Research at Debtwire. The KBW Regional Banking Index has dropped 6.1%, lagging the KBW Bank Index, which tracks large-cap banks and is up 13.5%. Last week, banks stocks seesawed sharply after Zions Bancorporation disclosed losses tied to two loans and Western Alliance initiated a lawsuit alleging fraud by Cantor Group V, LLC. Cantor has denied the allegations. Zions is set to report third-quarter results after the bell on Monday. The lender's stock, which has lost 12% of its value so far this month, ticked up 1.9% in premarket trading. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF was last up 0.7% before the bell. HBT Financial reported results, with non-performing assets at $8.6 million, or 0.17% of total assets, compared with $6.5 million, or 0.13%, in the prior quarter. Its shares rose 4% in light premarket trading after it agreed to merge with CNB Bank in a deal valued at $170.2 million. Meanwhile, Jefferies added 1.9% in premarket trading. The bank was caught up in the First Brands collapse, though executives have said the investment bank was "defrauded" and any losses are absorbable. Among regional lenders, Washington Trust Bancorp will also report results. The bank had earlier disclosed that its third-quarter profit will be hit by $11.3 million in loan losses. 'ADDITIONAL COCKROACHES' Even before problems surfaced at Zions and Western Alliance, investor confidence had taken a hit by the twin bankruptcies of auto parts maker First Brands and subprime lender Tricolor. Fifth Third booked a $178 million loss last week tied to the bankruptcy of Tricolor, while JPMorgan Chase wrote off $170 million. "Asset quality metrics across banks have been deteriorating but have held up better than we expected. Losses have been low, so these recent numerous larger loan problems have raised fears of a broader deterioration," said Michael Driscoll, credit rating officer, Global Financial Institutions Ratings at Morningstar DBRS. "But one of the lessons from 2023 regional bank failures was that banks' funding can unravel faster than in the past if sizable issues emerge." But many including Fifth Third CEO Tim Spence have downplayed comparisons to the 2023 regional banking crisis, when Silicon Valley Bank's failure sparked a broader turmoil. "We view recent weakness in the bank group as being driven by three key reasons… these include a number of idiosyncratic credit events occurring over a short period of time, less near-term focus over credit overall and mixed messaging from the banks," Deutsche Bank analysts said. Large Wall Street banks last week described the recent stress as idiosyncratic, but investors worry that problems emerging in quick succession point to deeper cracks in credit quality. "A wave of additional 'cockroaches' could reset risk tolerance across markets, pressuring valuations and tightening financial conditions further," Hynes said. Analysts said markets have taken note of JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's recent comment about the potential for more cases like First Brands, amplifying investor anxiety about weaknesses in the industry's more opaque corners. "When you see one cockroach, there are probably more, and so everyone should be forewarned of this one," Dimon said last week. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Joel Jose; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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(Reuters) -Global drugmakers are rushing to boost U.S. manufacturing and inventory as the Trump administration weighs a 100% tariff on imported branded and patented drugs. Although enforcement is delayed for companies investing in U.S. manufacturing, the policy has already prompted fast-tracked projects, price cuts and direct-to-consumer sales. Pfizer and AstraZeneca secured multi-year tariff exemptions through pricing deals and commitments to the new TrumpRx.gov platform. Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson and Merck have pledged billions to expand U.S. operations to avoid penalties. Here's what drugmakers are doing to mitigate supply-chain risks and reassure investors: Pfizer Pfizer reached a deal with President Donald Trump on September 30 to invest $70 billion in research and development and domestic manufacturing, and received a three-year grace period exempting its products from the pharmaceutical-targeted tariffs. GSK The London-based drugmaker plans to invest $30 billion in U.S. research and development and supply chain infrastructure over five years. Eli Lilly The U.S. drugmaker said in September it will invest $5 billion to build a manufacturing facility in Virginia. The facility is the first of four new U.S. plants planned under its $27 billion expansion over the next five years. Johnson & Johnson The drugmaker plans to raise U.S. investments by 25%, totaling $55 billion, over the next four years. It plans to build four plants, including one at Wilson, North Carolina, and another at Tokyo-based Fujifilm Biotechnologies' manufacturing site in Holly Springs, North Carolina, over the next 10 years. Locations for the other plants remain undisclosed.  Roche The Swiss drugmaker said in April it will invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years. A month later, it announced an additional $550 million investment to expand its Indianapolis diagnostics manufacturing hub. The expansion will span Indiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and California, creating more than 12,000 jobs. Roche said in May it plans to invest more than $700 million in a new drug manufacturing facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. CEO Thomas Schinecker said in July the company had moved around inventories and ramped up production of all the medicines that it already produced in the U.S. in anticipation of tariffs. AstraZeneca The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker will invest $50 billion on U.S. manufacturing by 2030. The investment will fund a new drug substance facility in Virginia, its largest single-site global investment, alongside expansions in Maryland, Massachusetts, California, Indiana and Texas.  It has already started technology transfers and is managing inventory in 2025 to minimize any tariff hit. Company executives have said the impact would be "very short-lived." Novartis The Swiss drugmaker plans to spend $23 billion to build and expand 10 facilities in the U.S. over the next five years. This includes building six new manufacturing plants and expanding its San Diego research and development site, which is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs. Sanofi The French drugmaker plans to invest at least $20 billion in the U.S. through 2030 to boost manufacturing and research. Sanofi plans to expand its U.S. manufacturing capacity through direct investments in the company's sites and partnerships with other domestic manufacturers.  Chief Financial Officer François Roger said in July the potential tariffs are expected to have a limited impact in 2025, as the company already has inventory in place in the U.S. Biogen The U.S. drugmaker will invest $2 billion more in its existing manufacturing plants in North Carolina, adding capacity for gene-targeting therapies and automation. The company has seven factories in the state, with an eighth set to begin operations in late 2025. Merck The U.S. drugmaker has begun building a $3 billion pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Virginia as part of its over $70 billion investment to expand domestic manufacturing and research and development in the U.S. It will also invest $1 billion in a new Delaware plant to make biologics and Keytruda, to boost U.S. production and potentially create over 4,500 jobs. It also opened a $1-billion facility at its North Carolina site in March. Merck's animal health unit will invest $895 million to expand its Kansas manufacturing and R&D site, part of a broader $9 billion U.S. investment through 2028.  CEO Robert Davis in July flagged minimal impact from potential tariffs in 2025, and that the company remained well-positioned due to inventory management and moving of manufacturing to the U.S. Amgen The U.S.-based biopharma firm plans to invest $900 million to expand its Ohio manufacturing facility, bringing total investment in the state to $1.4 billion and adding 750 jobs. In December, the company committed $1 billion to build a second facility in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Amgen said in September it is investing more than $600 million to build a new research and development center at its headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California. The drugmaker announced it will invest $650 million to expand drug manufacturing at its facility in Juncos, Puerto Rico, a move expected to create nearly 750 jobs. Novo Nordisk The Danish pharmaceutical company said in August its strong U.S. manufacturing footprint positions it well for tariff challenges, describing itself as "very U.S.-centric and U.S.-focused". AbbVie The U.S. drugmaker has confirmed plans to continue investing in its previously announced $10 billion expansion in the country over the next decade. It already has 11 manufacturing sites in the U.S. and has said it is "fairly insulated" from any tariff impact this year given inventory management actions. Gilead Sciences Earlier this year, the drugmaker announced $11 billion in new planned investment in the U.S. to add to its domestic manufacturing and research heft, taking its total pledged investment to $32 billion. Gilead said in September that it started work on a pharmaceutical development and manufacturing hub at its headquarters in Foster City, California, in addition to which, it is currently developing two other sites. Cipla The Indian drugmaker is expanding its U.S. manufacturing footprint by investing in capacity expansion for complex respiratory products at its advanced facilities in Fall River, Massachusetts, and Central Islip, Long Island, New York. (Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole, Kamal Choudhury and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath, Leroy Leo, Vijay Kishore and Sahal Muhammed)

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By Ateev Bhandari and Arasu Kannagi Basil (Reuters) -Evernorth, a new crypto venture backed by digital asset firm Ripple, said on Monday it will list on the Nasdaq through a merger with blank-check firm Armada Acquisition Corp II and is expected to raise more than $1 billion in proceeds. The digital asset treasury will focus on accumulating XRP, a token linked to Ripple and the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, according to data from CoinGecko. The move comes months after Wall Street's top regulator ended a high-profile crypto lawsuit, which accused Ripple of selling unregistered securities to institutional investors. Under a crypto-friendly Trump administration, Ripple is looking to scale institutional adoption and presence of the XRP token in capital markets. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will create the largest XRP publicly traded XRP treasury company, Evernorth said. As scores of companies continue to wrap crypto assets into equity, concerns are mounting over the spillover impact of a correction in the equities markets. Earlier this month, crypto assets suffered from their largest selloff ever after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his trade war with China. "I lost track around how many (asset holding plays) are there around Ethereum," Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla, a former Ripple executive, told Reuters in an interview. Birla added that he will be stepping down from Ripple's board as he joins Evernorth's. Japanese firm SBI, which was previously affiliated with SoftBank, is providing $200 million of the raise in exchange for equity. "We will look at acquisition opportunities," Birla said, adding that Evernorth will be hiring and building out an investment team as well. The deal also saw participation from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen and digital asset firms Pantera Capital and Kraken, which have a track record of funding such strategies. (Reporting by Ateev Bhandari and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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By Stefano Rebaudo (Reuters) -The dollar edged up against the yen but was flat versus the euro on Monday as investors shifted their focus to political developments in Japan and the euro area, while lingering concerns about U.S. credit risks kept weighing on sentiment. The yen weakened as hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi is almost certain to become Japan’s first female primeminister following a decisive parliamentary vote on Tuesday.  Her expected premiership, backed by a new coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, has raised investor concerns over potential fiscal expansion, which could weigh on the Japanese currency. “Market participants will now be watching closely to see what fiscal plans are put together by the new coalition government,” said Lee Hardman, senior currency economist at MUFG. “Japan Innovation Party’s own fiscal plans have been described as ‘moderately expansionary’,” he added. The dollar was up 0.1% to 150.73 yen, after hitting 151.20 earlier in the session. Bank of Japan board member Hajime Takata, who voted against keeping rates steady in September, reiterated on Monday his case for resuming rate hikes, providing some support for the Japanese currency.  Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed more than 3% higher, hitting an all-time peak on expectations of an expansionary fiscal policy. [.T] The BOJ next decides monetary policy on October 30, with market-implied odds of a quarter-point rate increase at 23%, according to LSEG data. The euro edged higher against the dollar as political tensions in France eased, but investor caution lingered. Markets have yet to fully price out French risk from the euro, with the government’s decision to freeze pension reform offering only a temporary political breather while complicating already fragile budget talks. The euro was flat at $1.1653. “This week the focus should stay on the U.S., and a further souring of credit sentiment could send the euro on a path to $1.180,” said Francesco Pesole, a foreign exchange strategist at ING. Market participants are closely watching Wall Street futures, which were up 0.34%. U.S. stock indexes ended higher on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said his proposed 100% tariffs on China would not be sustainable, while upbeat quarterly results from regional banks helped ease concerns over credit risks. The U.S. dollar index, a measure of its value relative to a basket of other major foreign currencies, rose 0.05% to 98.58. It hit 98.025 on Friday, its lowest level since October 6. Economists warned that the dollar's resilience will be tested on multiple fronts. "One, the government shutdown is hurting economic activity, both directly and indirectly," said Klaus Baader, global chief economist at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB), adding U.S.-China tensions were a second major concern. "Three, the (import) tariffs that are already in effect continue to feed through, slowing real household income growth and weighing on corporate margins," he said. Barclays flagged that, with no obvious catalyst to end the federal government shutdown in the next few weeks, the stoppage may extend well into November, when political and economic pressures should intensify.  The Australian dollar rose 0.1% to $0.6491 on Monday, cheered by data from top trade partner China showing its economy reasonably resilient to U.S. tariffs. Official data on Monday showed China's economy grew 1.1% in the third quarter, to top forecasts, while industrial output also beat with a rise of 6.5%. Although the 4.8% annual growth rate marked the weakest pace in a year, it kept the country on track to meet its official growth target of around 5%. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo; Editing by Sam Holmes and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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