Sector Update: Financial Stocks Decline Late Afternoon
Financial stocks fell in late Friday afternoon trading with the NYSE Financial Index declining 0.4% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) decreasing 0.7%.The Philadelphia Housing Index dropped 0.5%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) shed 0.2%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell 0.3% to $77,594, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries decreased 2.1 basis points to 4.30%.In economic news, the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index was revised upward to 49.8 for April from 47.6 in the preliminary estimate, compared with expectations for a smaller upward revision to 48.5 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.In sector news, US Attorney General for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro ordered her office to close its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.In corporate news, Western Union (WU) shares dropped 4.2% after the company reported Q1 adjusted earnings that fell more than Wall Street expected.Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance (ARI) completed the sale of its $9 billion commercial real estate loan portfolio to Athene Holding, following an agreement announced in January. Apollo Commercial's stock rose 0.7%.KKR (KKR) and investment management company Capital Group are planning to launch a public-private credit fund in Asia in H2, Bloomberg reported. KKR shares rose 0.1%.Blackstone (BX), KKR and Apollo Global Management (APO) are negotiating to take control of Medallia from Thoma Bravo, after the software maker defaulted on loans of about $3 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. Blackstone shares fell 0.5%, and Apollo lost 0.2%.