Financial stocks were lower in late Wednesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index decreasing 0.7% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) down 0.6%.
The Philadelphia Housing Index was climbing 2.4%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 0.6%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 5.5% to $68,185, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries fell 5.3 basis points to 4.653%.
In economic news, minutes of the July 28-29 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee showed that most participants supported maintaining the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75%.
The US Treasury Department said it was raising the cap on its buyback operations for longer-dated nominal coupon securities to at least $4 billion per operation from $2 billion, effective Sept. 9.
US mortgage applications fell by 0.4% in the week ended Aug. 14, with an increase in refinancing activity offset by a decline in home purchase applications, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday.
In corporate news, Klarna (KLAR) shares fell 2.1% after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight and cut its price target to $18 per share from $22.
Jefferies Financial's (JEF) indirect unit Jefferies Credit Partners is looking to raise about 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) from investors who trade private credit in the secondary market, Bloomberg reported. Jefferies Financial shares were down 0.7%.
BlackRock's (BLK) private credit division HPS Investment Partners and Oaktree Capital are among the creditors that seized control of production equipment supplier MBS Group last week, after the latter defaulted on its debt, the Financial Times reported. BlackRock shares were up 0.4%.
Progressive (PGR) shares added 4.8% after it reported that net premiums earned in July were $7.36 billion, up from $6.99 billion a year earlier.