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Sector Update: Financial Stocks Higher Wednesday Afternoon

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Financial stocks were advancing in Wednesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 1.7% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) adding 2.4%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was falling 1.2%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 0.9%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 3.2% to $60,134, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was rising to 4.47%.

In economic news, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas said companies planned to cut 45,849 jobs in June, down from 97,006 in May and 47,999 a year ago. The largest layoff counts in June were in the technology and services sectors.

In sector news, US banks are expected to report double-digit growth in Q2 core earnings, buoyed by factors including net interest revenue and core noninterest income, RBC Capital Markets said in a Wednesday note. RBC is projecting a 19% annual jump in banks' median core earnings per share from a year earlier. Consensus estimates point to a 21% increase, according to the brokerage.

In corporate news, Klarna (KLAR) said a court ruled in favor of its PriceRunner unit, awarding it $1.97 billion in damages in an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google. Klarna said the award compensates the company for lost revenue due to Google's preference of its own comparison-shopping service over independent services. Klarna shares rose 0.8%.

BlackRock (BLK), KKR (KKR) and Macquarie Asset Management have met with Mexican government officials, as President Claudia Sheinbaum seeks to jump-start private investment in infrastructure projects, Bloomberg reported. BlackRock shares gained 1.9%, and KKR added 1.1%.

JPMorgan Chase's (JPM) asset management unit is the leading bidder to buy Idex, Antin Infrastructure Partners' French heating and cooling network operator, Bloomberg reported. Idex could be valued at between 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) and 4 billion euros, including debt, in a potential acquisition, the report said. JPMorgan shares rose 1.9%.

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