U.S. bank deposits fell last week, indicating the financial system remains fragile after a string of bank failures, Bloomberg News reported. Deposits decreased by $76.2 billion in the week ended April 12, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Federal Reserve out Friday. The drop was mostly at large and foreign institutions, but they also fell at small banks. Meantime, commercial bank lending rose $13.8 billion last week on a seasonally adjusted basis. On an unadjusted basis, loans and leases fell $9.3 billion. The data offer a mixed picture. Deposits resumed their decline after jumping in the previous week. They had dropped sharply last month in the immediate aftermath of the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and others, and are now at the lowest since July 2021. But lending increased for a second week in a row, led by residential and consumer loans, indicating that credit conditions are stabilizing.
