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Sector Update: Financial Stocks Decline Wednesday Afternoon

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Financial stocks were lower in Wednesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index decreasing 0.8% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) shedding 0.9%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was down 0.9%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 0.7%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was falling 2.4% to $65,724, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was rising 5 basis points to 4.497%.

In economic news, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development lowered its global economic growth projection for 2026, cautioning that the fallout from the Middle East conflict may linger for some time even after its resolution.

In corporate news, Amazon-backed (AMZN) Anthropic has chosen Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) to lead its initial public offering, Bloomberg reported. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is also working on the deal, the report said. Goldman shares were down 1.8%, Morgan Stanley shed 1.9%, and JPMorgan decreased 0.1%.

Hartford Insurance (HIG) has agreed to sell its Hartford Funds unit to Wellington Management in a deal with a net present value of $1.9 billion, the companies said Wednesday. Hartford shares were down 0.7%.

Deutsche Bank (DB) may set aside more money for loan losses than analysts expected in Q2, although provisions are expected to be lower than in the previous quarter, Bloomberg reported, citing CFO Raja Akram. Deutsche shares fell 3.3%.

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