U.S. stocks ended mostly higher Monday afternoon as investors welcomed waning signs of banking sector stress, but remained wary of the potential for further problems in addition to the specter of a possible credit crunch.

How stocks are trading

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average
  DJIA,
  +0.60%
  rose 194.55 points, or 0.6%, to shut at 32,432.08.

• The S&P 500 index
  SPX,
  +0.16%
  gained 6.54 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 3,977.53.

• The Nasdaq Composite
  COMP,
  -0.47%
  finished at 11,768.84, down 55.12 points, or 0.5%.

The Dow on Friday ended a back-to-back run of weekly declines, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each saw weekly advances.

What’s driving markets

An agreement by First Residents Banchshares Inc.
FCNCA,
+53.74%
to purchase the deposits and loans of failed Silicon Valley Bank helped underpin sentiment as shares of European banks steadied. First Residents shares jumped 53.7%.

Shares of First Republic Bank
FRC,
+11.81%
gained 11.8%. Regional lenders gained ground, but finished off early highs, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking exchange-traded fund
KRE,
+0.87%
rising 0.9%. KRE stays down nearly 29% to this point in March.

“If market conditions were what they at the moment are back in 2008, the equity market would have been under severe stress. But today, with numerous bad news already priced into the market and greater confidence that the Fed won’t tolerate large levels of stress, the equity market is showing remarkable resilience,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide, in a note.

That doesn’t mean the storm is over.

“Frankly, this is kind of puzzling and any investor who thinks they understand what’s happening immediately isn’t being attentive to the information. Investors must be careful of listening to those that appear to have all the things found out given the variety of moving parts and lack of historical precedent,” he wrote.

U.S. equities have been particularly choppy in recent weeks as traders have expressed anxiety about banking sector stress while welcoming the lower bond yields those concerns have delivered.

See: Why the worst banking mess since 2008 isn’t freaking out stock-market investors — yet

This has left the S&P 500 stuck near the center of the 3800-4200 range it has held for 4 months, and leaves the Wall Street barometer “stuck on either side of its 200-day moving average,” said Jonathan Krinsky, chief technical strategist at BTIG.

Source BTIG.

The Tell: 3 charts show U.S. bank failures causing stock-market pain beneath the surface

Corporations in focus

• BioNTech SE
  BNTX,
  -3.59%
  American depositary receipts fell 3.6%. The German vaccine maker reported profit and sales ahead of forecasts, but estimated €5 billion ($5.4 billion) of COVID-19 vaccine revenue this yr, down from €17.2 billion in 2022.

• Carnival Corp.
  CCL,
  -4.77%
  shares fell 4.8%, after the cruise operator reported better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results, amid record bookings, but provided a downbeat second-quarter outlook.