Markets shuddered Wednesday on worries about a spreading banking crisis and how badly it will hit the economy, and stocks and bond yields fell on both sides of the Atlantic.

The S&P 500 sank as much as 2.1% before ending the day with a loss of 0.7%, while markets in Europe fell more sharply as shares of Switzerland’s Credit Suisse dropped to a record low. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 280 points, or 0.9%, after dropping as much as 725 points. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.1% after erasing a steep decline.

Markets trimmed their losses toward the end of the day as the Swiss National Bank said it could provide some assistance to Credit Suisse “if needed.”

But that came only after a steep drop for Credit Suisse rattled investors worldwide. Its shares in Switzerland sank 24.2% following reports that its top shareholder won’t pump more money into its investment.

Much of the damage for banks is seen as the result of the Federal Reserve’s fastest barrage of hikes to interest rates in decades. The Fed has pulled its key overnight rate to a range of 4.50% to 4.75%, up from virtually zero at the start of last year, in hopes of driving down painfully high inflation.

Weaker-than-expected economic reports released Wednesday may have allayed some of those worries. One showed that inflation at the wholesale level slowed by much more last month than economists expected. Other data showed that U.S. spending at retailers fell by more than expected last month.

That caused the yield on the two-year Treasury to plummet. It tends to track expectations for the Fed, and it dropped to 3.89% from 4.25% late Tuesday.

In Europe, indexes tumbled on weakness from banks. France’s CAC 40 dropped 3.6%, and Germany’s DAX lost 3.3%. The FTSE 100 in London fell 3.8%.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 27.36 points to 3,891.93. The Dow lost 280.83 to 31,874.57, while the Nasdaq rose 5.90 to 11,434.05.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil for April delivery fell $3.72 to $67.61 a barrel Wednesday. Brent crude for May delivery fell $3.76 to $73.69 a barrel.

Gold for April delivery rose $20.40 at $1,931.30 an ounce. Silver for May delivery fell 16 cents to $21.88 an ounce and May copper fell 16 cents to $3.84 a pound.

The dollar fell to 133.46 Japanese yen from 134.19 yen. The euro fell to $1.0586 from $1.0741.

Wheat for May rose 6.5 cents at $7.0275 a bushel; May corn was up 5.75 cents at $6.265 a bushel, May oats was off 1.5 cents at at $3.475 a bushel; while May soybeans fell 4.5 cents at $14.8925 a bushel.

— Associated Press