Financial stocks were advancing pre-bell Wednesday, with the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) 0.5% higher.
The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 1.3% and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was 1.2% lower.
Payments firm Stripe and Advent International have offered to acquire PayPal (PYPL) for $60.50 per share in a deal that would value the company at more than $53 billion, Reuters reported, citing two unnamed people familiar with the matter. Shares of PayPal were up more than 18% premarket.
Morgan Stanley (MS) shares were down more than 1% even after the company posted higher Q2 earnings and net revenue.
BlackRock (BLK) stock was up more than 5% after the company reported higher Q2 adjusted earnings and revenue.