Sector Update: Financial Stocks Decrease in Afternoon Trading

02:11 PM EDT, 09/24/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were softer in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) each down 0.1%. The Philadelphia Housing Index was down 0.7%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up fractionally. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was down 0.4% at $83,933, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 6.3 basis points to 5.18%. In economic news, initial jobless claims fell to 197,000 in the week ended Sept. 19 from an upwardly revised 198,000 in the previous week, compared with expectations for an increase to 200,000 in a survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg. The four-week moving average fell by 1,750 to 202,250. New-home sales rose to an annual rate of 684,000 in August from an upwardly revised 643,000 in July, above the 616,000 expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Home sales were still down 2.0% from August 2025. The Kansas City Fed monthly manufacturing index rose to 14 in September from 10 in August, compared with expectations of 9 in a Bloomberg-compiled poll. In corporate news, Blackstone (BX) said it has launched its Blackstone Private Markets Fund, a perpetual flagship strategy that gives eligible non-US investors access to its private-markets platform through a single allocation. Shares were down 1.7%. Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and other investment banks plan to sell 3.6 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) in high-yield bonds and infrastructure loans to finance KKR (KKR) and Energy Capital Partners' 5.7 billion-pound buyout of DCC Energy, Bloomberg reported. KKR shares were shedding 2.1%. Oracle (ORCL) issued a force majeure notice to Project Jupiter's developer, a unit of Blue Owl Capital (OWL), seeking to defer payments if its planned New Mexico data center is delayed and fails to come online in 2028 as planned, Bloomberg reported. Blue Owl shares were falling 4.5%.