Sector Update: Financial Stocks Edge Higher Tuesday Afternoon

Financial stocks were edging higher in Tuesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) each fractionally higher. The Philadelphia Housing Index fell 1.2%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 1.6%. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 0.1% to $64,032, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was rising 4.6 basis points to 4.525%. In economic news, consumer expectations for one-year US inflation growth jumped to 3.7% in June from 3.5% in the previous month, according to a survey released by the New York Federal Reserve Bank. The print is the highest since September 2023. The US international trade deficit widened to $77.59 billion in May from a revised $54.57 billion gap in April, compared with a wider shortfall of $78.4 billion expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey. Consumer confidence for July rose from the prior month, with the RealClearMarkets' monthly index rising to 45.5 from 42.5 in June. In corporate news, Fiserv (FISV) has held talks with JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and PNC Financial Services (PNC) about a potential sale of its STAR.