Is the worst now over for America’s banks?

After a hurricane pnchas passed there is a period of calm that can feel euphoric. Survival is no longer at stake. Then, once the relief begins to fade, it is time to assess the damage. What destruction has been wrought? How difficult will it be to recover? This sequence will be familiar to anyone who has been paying attention to American banks this year. In the days that followed the sudden failure of Silicon Valley Bank, once the country’s 16th-largest lender, as well as two other banks, panic and fear ripped through the financial system. Now, though, the storm seems to have passed. Certainly, no lender has been imperilled since. Cue the relief.What of the wreckage? The extent can be hard to discern in the immediate aftermath. But America’s listed banks must, once a quarter, disclose their balance-sheets and earnings, offering a 30,000-foot view of the mess. Results season, which began on April 14th, when Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank and Wells Fargo reported their first-quarter results, will continue to be closely watched through to April 24th. That is when First Republic, a bank in San Francisco which narrowly avoided failure in March, will belatedly disclose its results, having postponed its normal schedule in light of events.