Financial stocks were advancing in Friday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 1.2% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) adding 1.1%.
The Philadelphia Housing Index was up 0.6%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) rose 0.8%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 0.5% to $63,887, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was rising 2 basis points to 4.483%.
In economic news, US consumer sentiment has rebounded in June as gasoline prices eased, while the inflation outlook dropped, the University of Michigan's preliminary survey showed Friday. The main sentiment index rose 9.2% sequentially to 48.9 this month, following three consecutive drops. The consensus was for a 46 print in a Bloomberg poll.
In sector news, US banking regulators are ramping up their review of the use of AI in financial services, along with its potential risks, Reuters reported. The US Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have started asking banks to detail their use of AI in lending and customer checks, among other processes, during routine bank assessments, the report said.
In corporate news, Robinhood (HOOD) saw heavy traffic Friday, leading to latency and intermittent issues for some customers, the company's official help account said in a post on X. Essential systems have recovered and teams are closely monitoring the situation, according to the social media post. Robinhood shares rose 0.6%.
Vanguard has surpassed BlackRock (BLK) to become the largest exchange-traded fund issuer in the US, with about $4.39 trillion in assets across its US-listed ETFs, Bloomberg reported. The milestone follows approximately $13 billion in net inflows in the latest session, pushing Vanguard's ETF assets above the roughly $4.36 trillion managed by BlackRock, the report said. BlackRock shares were up 0.9%.
HSBC (HSBC) has roughly $400 million of exposure to IFFCO, a consumer goods company in the Middle East that has struggled for months to restructure about $2 billion in debt, Bloomberg reported. HSBC shares were rising 1.7%.