Financial stocks rose Friday as the NYSE Financial Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) each gained 0.4%.
The Philadelphia Housing Index climbed 0.6%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) fell 0.5%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell 3.3% to $77,629, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 4.8 basis points to 4.72%.
In economic news, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said the central bank's primary focus should be on prices, given that the US is doing well on the employment front. Delivering his debut Jackson Hole speech as Fed chief, Warsh said inflation numbers were concerning. "The comparable measures from the consumer price index are also elevated, as are the core measures of both PCE and CPI inflation," Warsh said. "None of these measures are perfect, but they all tell a similar story: Inflation is running above our 2% target. So the Fed's predominant focus right now should be on prices."
Separately, US consumer sentiment dropped in August amid concerns that inflation will continue to be high for the "foreseeable future," final results of a University of Michigan survey showed. The main sentiment index fell 6.3% to 51.7 from July. The gauge for current economic conditions dropped to 51.9 from 54.8, while the index of consumer expectations slid 7% to 51.5.
In corporate news, Klarna (KLAR) shares rose 1.2% after a $9.95 million share purchase by CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski.
PayPal (PYPL) shares fell 13% after Bloomberg reported that Advent and Stripe abandoned their $50 billion takeover bid.
Affirm (AFRM) shares rose 0.4%, paring earlier gains a day after the company reported a surge in fiscal Q4 earnings and sales and issued an upbeat fiscal Q1 sales outlook.
UBS (UBS) raised 2 billion yuan ($297.5 million) via its debut panda bond in China's onshore market, highlighting growing demand among international issuers for lower borrowing costs, Bloomberg reported. UBS shares rose 1%.