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Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said Friday that Bank of America BAC will buy Signature Bank SBNY on Monday, as bigger systemic banks continue in their efforts to rescue distressed smaller banks.

The CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management has recently campaignedfor an unlimited systemwide guarantee on deposits, in contrast to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who reaffirmed the $250,000 insurance cap this week.

Until a full deposit insurance isachieved, the cost of capital for smaller banks will rise, forcing them to merge or be bought by bigger institutions, in Ackman's view.

I am hearing that Bank of America is going to buy Signature Bank on Monday. Unless and until we can protect uninsured deposits, the cost of capital is going to rise for smaller banks pushing them to merge or be acquired by the SIBs. I dont think this is good for America,Ackman wrote on Twitter.

Benzinga has contacted Bank of America for comment on Ackman's remarks.

Read next:Elon Musk Reacts As Bill Ackman Flags First Republic's Risk Spreading To Largest Banks: '…Astounding'

Goldman SachsAnalyst Remains Optimistic: The hedge fund manager also said Twitter that First Republic Bank FRC 's "default risk is now being spread to our largest banks and added that spreading the risk of financial contagion to achieve a false sense of confidence in FRB is bad policy.

Bank of America participatedin the consortium of large banks injecting a total of $30 billion into First Republic Bank this week.

Ackman downplayed the efficacy of the $30-billion capital infusion into FRB and stated that "half measures don't work when there is a crisis of confidence."

According to Goldman Sachs equity analyst Ryan Nash, the plan to inject capital into FRBwill allow the firm to manage short-term deposit withdrawals in an orderly fashion, although earnings will likely be negatively impacted.

Bank of America BAC , Citigroup C , JP Morgan Chase & Co. JPM , and Wells Fargo WFC were the main contributors to the FRC deposit injection, each providing $5 billion.

Goldman Sachs GS and Morgan Stanley MS each contributed $2.5 billion, while Bank of New York Mellon Corp BK , State Street Corp STT , PNC Financial Services Group Inc PNC ,

Truist Financial Corp TFC , and UBS Group AG UBS each chipped $1 billion.Each bank provided 3% of its tangible common equity (TCE), Nash said in the note.

BankingStocks Continue Selloff:Friday was another bloodbath for banking stocks. FRC plunged 32%, WFC fell 4%, BAC was down 3.8%, JPM fell 3.7%, MS lost3.4%, GS tumbled3.3%, and C retreated by 3%.

S&P 500 financial companies: price performance on March 17, 2023. Chart: TradingView

The Financial Select Sector SPDR FundXLF lost 3% on Friday, underperforming versus all other sectors, and hitting the lowest level since mid-October 2022.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (NYSE:KRE) fell 6% on Friday and has now shed 30% of its value in the last two weeks. KRE is trading at levels not seen since the COVID-19 vaccine was discovered in November 2020.

KRE weekly price chart and RSI. Chart: TradingView

Photo via Shutterstock.

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Baltimore bridge collapse: Wife of survivor say it’s a ‘miracle’ husband survived’ because he can’t swim

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Baltimore bridge collapse: Wife of survivor say it's a 'miracle' husband survived' because he can't swim

The wife of one of the eight construction workers who was on the Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed has said “it’s a miracle he survived” because he can’t swim.

Julio Cervantes was on the 1.6-mile-long structure when it crashed into the Patapsco River after being struck by a huge container ship in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Mr Cervantes and another man were rescued the same day.

The rescue mission turned into a recovery operation when they were presumed dead on Tuesday night. The bodies of two of them were found on Wednesday while the remaining four have still not been found.

Mr Cervantes’ wife, who did not want to give her name, told Sky News’ US partner network: “All of the men were on a break in their cars when the boat hit.

“We don’t know if they were warned before the impact… My husband doesn’t know how to swim. It is a miracle he survived.”

It emerged after the disaster that personnel on board the ship were able to alert the Maryland Department of Transportation that they had lost control of their vessel.

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Pic: NTSB via AP
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Pic: NTSB via AP

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New angle shows moment bridge hit

This meant local authorities were able to get close to the bridge before it was struck, with US President Joe Biden saying this “undoubtedly saved lives”.

Mr Cervantes was taken to hospital with a chest wound on Tuesday and was released the same day.

The other worker rescued was in good condition and refused treatment.

The remains of Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, 35, and Dorlian Ronial Castillo Cabrera, 26, were recovered in the Port of Baltimore on Wednesday morning.

They were found in a red truck trapped under 25ft of water near what was once the middle of the bridge.

Read more:
Two possible causes for the catastrophe
Baltimore has ‘very long road ahead’

Mr Cervantes’ wife said that her brother-in-law was one of the two men whose bodies were recovered, but did not share his name.

She said her entire family is of Mexican origin, and her nephew is among those still missing.

“We haven’t been able to sleep, waiting for word if they’re going to find a relative,” she said.

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Moment bridge collapses after being hit by ship

It came as Maryland Governor Wes Moore warned of a “very long road ahead” to recover from the loss of the bridge as the Biden administration approved $60m in immediate federal aid.

Massive barges carrying cranes are in the process of removing twisted metal and concrete as a first step toward reopening a key shipping route blocked by the wreckage.

Mr Moore promised that “the best minds in the world” were working on plans to clear the debris, move the cargo ship that rammed into the bridge from the channel, recover the bodies of the four remaining workers presumed dead and investigate what went wrong.

An investigation into what caused the crash and subsequent bridge collapse is under way by the National Transportation Safety Board. It is anticipated to take up to two years.

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Weather latest: Strong winds batter UK as millions set to hit roads over Easter weekend

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Weather latest: Strong winds batter UK as millions set to hit roads over Easter weekend

Winds of up to 70mph have battered the south coast, along with hail and thunder, as millions are set to hit the roads for Easter getaways.

The weekend is set to be “unsettled” but “bright and breezy”, according to the Met Office forecast.

Drivers are being warned of long delays on roads as more than 14 million Easter getaway trips are expected.

Find out the forecast for where you live

A ferry arrives at the Port of Dover in Kent during rough seas. Pic: PA
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A ferry arrives at the Port of Dover in Kent during rough seas. Pic: PA

The RAC and transport analysis company Inrix commissioned a survey which suggested 2.6 million leisure journeys by car will be made on Good Friday.

Meanwhile, at least three major airports have said that the coming days will be their busiest-ever Easter weekend while 493 different pieces of planned engineering works are set to take place on the railways.

Yellow weather warnings for rain and strong winds were issued across parts of the south of England and Northern Ireland respectively on Thursday.

The caution for the south of England expired at 11.59pm on Thursday while the warning for Northern Ireland said “a few” homes and businesses could be flooded and is in place until 3am on Friday.

The unsettled conditions are expected to continue into Easter, as the bank holiday weekend leads into a two-week break for many schools.

Pic: Met Office
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Pic: Met Office

Traffic in Dover as Easter weekend begins. Pic: PA
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Traffic in Dover. Pic: PA

Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said Good Friday will be less windy than Thursday, with a few showers around on Saturday and Easter Sunday, along with pleasant sunny spells.

Temperatures of up to 15C (59F) are expected in west London and 14C (57.2F) in Manchester on Sunday, which is typical for the time of year.

Read more from Sky News:
King delivers personal Easter message
Man arrested over death of Gogglebox star
Owners of Crooked House appeal against rebuild order

File pic: PA
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Rain is then set to return to the south on Easter Monday.

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Astrocomb breakthrough could help discover Earth-like planets

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Astrocomb breakthrough could help discover Earth-like planets

New Earth-like planets could soon be discovered after scientists made a technological breakthrough.

Physicists have developed an astrocomb that can analyse the blue-green light emitted by stars.

Astrocombs can detect tiny variations in a star’s light created by orbiting exoplanets (those beyond our own solar system) – potentially revealing one similar to Earth.

They have been mainly limited to the green-red part of the light spectrum, but the new system offers the chance to uncover even more space secrets.

The breakthrough was made by physicists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and Cambridge University.

“This is a really exciting development that will enable us to study smaller planets on longer orbits than ever before – with the aim of discovering the first ‘Earth-like’ planet orbiting around a nearby sun-like star,” said Dr Samantha Thompson from Cambridge.

Heriot-Watt Professor Derryck Reid said the shorter wavelength light the new system can examine is “rich in the atomic absorption features of interest to astronomers”.

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“Our new approach for the first time provides a continuous sequence of optical markers from the ultraviolet to the blue-green that serve as a precision wavelength scale in this part of the spectrum,” added Professor Reid.

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Read more from Sky News:
New experiment to search for mysterious hidden particles
What do resource-hungry data centres mean for energy plans?

The technology is being developed for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) under construction in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

It will have a 39-metre primary mirror and be the largest visible and infrared light telescope in the world.

The UK team will also work on astrocombs for telescopes in South Africa and the Canary Islands.

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