Sector Update: Financial Stocks Edge Lower Late Afternoon
Financial stocks were slightly lower in late Friday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) each fractionally lower.The Philadelphia Housing Index shed 0.3%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) rose 0.3%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was falling 1% to $63,042, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 5.5 basis points to 4.696%.In economic news, retail sales slid 0.6% in July amid declines in spending on motor vehicles and at gas stations, following a 0.2% increase in June, the Census Bureau reported Friday. The consensus was for 0.1% growth, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg.The probability of the Federal Reserve extending its policy pause to September jumped to almost 70% by Friday afternoon, from 56% a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool, building on gains after data this week showed headline and core consumer and wholesale price inflation rates declined year over year in July.The University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index fell to 51.0 in August from 55.2 in July, below expectations for a much smaller decrease to 55.0 in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.In corporate news, International Money Express (IMXI) shares jumped past 23% after Western Union's (WU) pending acquisition of the company received approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services, with Western Union agreeing to certain commitments related to remittance services and locations. Western Union shares were down 1.2%.T. Rowe Price (TROW) CEO Rob Sharps has predicted that it will take another couple of years to reverse the outflows amid passive competition, the Financial Times reported. The company is considering options like acquisitions in growth areas in a bid to ease the ongoing strain and return to positive flows faster, the report said, citing an interview with Sharps. T. Rowe Price shares were down 0.9%.JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has cut off banking access for prediction-market platform Polymarket over regulatory concerns, the Financial Times reported. The FT said the move comes as US regulators, including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, maintain scrutiny of prediction markets. JPMorgan shares were shedding 0.1%.Goldman Sachs (GS) is courting investors to partake in Nvidia's (NVDA) $500 billion AI financing initiative, Reuters reported. Among the potential investors are insurers, money managers, and banks along with asset managers, the report said. Goldman shares were down 0.2%.
