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Sector Update: Financial Stocks Advance Thursday Afternoon

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Financial stocks were higher in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index adding 0.3% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) advancing marginally.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was climbing 1.5%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 1.4%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was shedding 0.5% to $64,377, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was rising 1.9 basis points to 4.57%.

In economic news, US retail sales rose by 0.2% in June, following a 1.0% gain in the prior month and meeting expectations in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

Initial jobless claims dropped to 208,000 in the week ended July 11 from 216,000 in the previous week, compared with expectations for an increase to 217,000.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's monthly manufacturing index rose to 41.4 in July from 10.3 in June, compared with expectations for a smaller increase to a reading of 12.5.

In corporate news, U.S. Bancorp (USB) and State Street (STT) reported higher Q2 earnings year over year on Thursday, as both lenders topped revenue estimates amid strong net interest income and fee-based gains. U.S. Bancorp shares rose 1.7%, and State Street was down 1.1%.

Voya Financial (VOYA) has attracted informal takeover interest in recent weeks, though no talks are underway and the company's management and board are not seeking a transaction, Semafor reported. Voya shares were up 1.1%.

Visa (V) said Thursday it launched the Visa Stablecoin Platform, which is designed to help financial institutions, fintechs and crypto-native firms access stablecoin functionality through a single Visa-managed environment. Visa shares climbed 1.9%.

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