Investors flee to safe havens amid concern of more U.S. regional bank failures: media

WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Fear of potential financial contagion from the collapse of two large regional banks has investors scurrying to protect their assets, said U.S. financial media Investopedia on Monday.

In the wake of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and New York's Signature Bank, many investors fled to bonds, causing U.S. bond yields to post their biggest one-day decline since the 2008 global financial crisis on Monday.

Yields fall as bond prices rise.

Other investors flocked to buy gold, another safe-haven asset, pushing prices for the precious metal up as much as 2.5 percent to a six-week high. Silver prices rose even higher, gaining as much as 6.8 percent, said the report.

The U.S. government announced emergency measures Sunday evening aimed at protecting the two banks' depositors and raising the odds that the Federal Reserve would halt its year-long string of interest rate increases at its policy meeting next week, the report added.

However, Greg Valliere, a policy analyst with AGF Investments, warned investors to guard their hopes.

"The bad news is that this crisis probably won't dissuade the Fed from more rate hikes. A 50 basis point move later this month seems unlikely, but a quarter-point hike is still on the table," Valliere was quoted as saying.