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By Jonathan Boyar, principal of New York City-based Boyar Value Group and advisor to the MAPFRE AM US Forgotten Value Fund.

From the perspective of the U.S. stock market, 2022 was a miserable year (with the S&P 500 declining 19.4%), but until recently, 2023 was shaping up to be a stronger year. January's performance was particularly impressive, with the S&P 500 advancing more than 6%. In response, market participants cautiously began holding out hope for a soft landing.

But then, seemingly out of nowhere (the way most crises seem to start), a cryptocurrency lender named Silvergate Capital Corp failed, followed by Silicon Value Bank---the largest banking collapse in the U.S. since Washington Mutual in 2008 and then Signature Bank failed. As a result, bank customers throughout the U.S. who had deposits of more than $250,000 (the FDIC insurance cap) became concerned about the safety of their deposits. Regional banks such as First Republic, with their larger percentage of uninsured depositors, also experienced massive withdrawals, raising questions about their solvency.

What caused these events?

Multiple factors contributed to this situation, but chief among them was a swift increase in interest rates (the Fed funds rate was raised from basically 0% in March 2022 to a range of 4.75%-5.00% by March 2023) as the Fed responded to ele......................

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