Financial stocks were mixed in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index decreasing 0.1% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) adding 0.7%.
The Philadelphia Housing Index rose 2.3%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 0.1%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) gained 2.5% to $63,498, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries decreased 6.3 basis points to 4.48%.
In economic news, core producer price index, which excludes the more volatile food and energy prices, increased by 0.4% in May, slower than the 0.5% gain expected in a Bloomberg-compiled poll and following a 0.7% gain in April. Core PPI remained at 4.9% year-over-year, but below the 5.4% consensus.
US initial jobless claims rose to a level of 229,000 in the week ended June 6 from an unrevised level of 225,000 in the previous week, compared with expectations for an increase to 220,000 in a survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
In sector news, the US Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling, blocking activist investors from suing closed-end mutual funds over maneuvers they take to avoid activist-investor takeovers. Saba Capital Master Fund, which led the suing investors, alleged that such moves, like incorporating in favorable jurisdictions, violate the Investment Company Act of 1940.
In corporate news, BlackRock (BLK) placed an order to buy at least $5 billion worth of SpaceX shares, the Wall Street Journal reported. Individual investors placed more than $70 billion in orders, and the company also attracted demand from sovereign wealth funds and family offices, including a single family office order of over $1 billion, the report said. BlackRock shares were up 1.1%.
Charles Schwab (SCHW) said Thursday that it has lowered expense ratios on four of its equity index ETFs, including funds tracking US mid-cap, small-cap, international small-cap, and emerging markets stocks. Its shares rose 0.1%.
KKR (KKR) said Thursday it launched Helix Digital Infrastructure, a platform with over $10 billion in committed capital to finance AI infrastructure, including data centers, power and connectivity expansion. KKR shares were down 0.5%.