Sector Update: Financial Stocks Edge Higher Friday Afternoon
Financial stocks were slightly higher in Friday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index up 0.1% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) adding 0.2%.The Philadelphia Housing Index was slightly lower, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was shedding 0.4%.Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was falling 3% to $62,832, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries climbed 7.4 basis points to 4.737%.In economic news, a survey conducted by the University of Michigan showed respondents expect a 4.2% inflation rate over the next year, down from 4.6% in June, and 3.3% annual inflation over the next five years, in line with a month ago. The Federal Reserve has remained above its 2% inflation target for more than five years.In sector news, Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund, Situational Awareness, is unwinding its public stock positions after losses on AI infrastructure investments and short bets against software stocks, CNBC reported. The fund's prime brokers have been raising cash to meet margin requirements, while Citadel agreed to buy its publicly traded assets, the report said. Situational Awareness had grown to about $45 billion at the start of July before the losses, the report said.In corporate news, Apollo Global Management (APO) and KKR (KKR) are facing increased scrutiny from US insurance regulators over fast-growing multi-asset securitization structures that officials say could pose transparency and "circular ownership" risks, the Financial Times reported. Apollo shares were up 3.6%, and KKR was shedding 0.2%.Coinbase (COIN) shares fell past 9% after it reported a Q2 loss late Thursday of $1.36 per diluted share, swinging from earnings of $5.14 a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of $0.44. Revenue for the quarter was $1.22 billion, down from $1.5 billion a year earlier, and missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion.HSBC (HSBC) said Friday it expects to incur $300 million in restructuring costs and write-offs following its decision to sell its Australian home loans and personal loans portfolio and wind down the remainder of the retail business in the country over the next 18 months. Separately, HSBC has held early talks to transfer billions of pounds of assets from its UK pension scheme to insurers after being approached by potential buyers, Bloomberg reported. HSBC shares were down 0.4%.