Financial stocks were advancing in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) each adding about 1.1%.
The Philadelphia Housing Index was up 1.2%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) rose 0.5%.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was up 0.7% at $62,701, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was down 3.2 basis points to 4.537%.
In economic news, US initial jobless claims fell sequentially to 215,000 in the week ended July 4 from an upwardly revised 217,000, compared with 217,000 in a Bloomberg survey.
The pace of US existing home sales fell 2.4% to a 4.09 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in June from an upwardly-revised 4.19 million annual rate in May, compared with a rise to 4.20 million in a Bloomberg survey, data from the National Association of Realtors released Thursday showed.
In sector news, Kalshi is in discussions with US regulators to expand its perpetual futures offerings beyond cryptocurrencies into asset classes including metals, foreign exchange, and energy, Reuters reported, citing Chief Risk Officer Udesh Jha.
In corporate news, Mara (MARA) has agreed to buy a powered land site in Matagorda County, Texas, from HIF USA, the firms said. The site will be developed via Mara's partnership with Starwood Digital Ventures as a campus for Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing workloads. Shares rose past 11%.
CME's (CME) attempt to list a self-certified, round-the-clock crude oil futures contract has been blocked by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the regulator said Thursday. CME shares fell 1.9%.
Barclays (BCS) is preparing to sell about $875 million of debt financing to support Blackstone (BX) and Tinicum's acquisition of UK aerospace supplier Senior, Bloomberg reported. Barclays shares gained 2%.