Financial stocks end week higher as tech selloff continues

EarningsM&A · PartnershipDigital Finance
โดย Seeking Alpha·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Financial stocks ended the week higher even as Wall Street's major averages declined amid a technology-led selloff. The State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF rose 0.99% to $56.26, with the S&P 500 Financials sector extending its rally to six consecutive sessions in extreme overbought territory. Among megacap gainers, Mastercard advanced 3.20% to $543.60 and Visa added 2.75% to $358.56 after Visa introduced a new enterprise platform for stablecoin capabilities. Bank of America gained 2.68% to $61.27 following better-than-expected second-quarter earnings, while Citigroup fell 8.12% to $129.36 despite topping estimates after comments on additional investments and severance expenses. PayPal surged 22.11% to $56.56 on reports of a $53 billion joint takeover bid from Stripe and Advent International, and Travelers Companies rose 8.87% to $368.98 after its second-quarter earnings blew past consensus. Crypto-related stocks were largely lower, with IREN down 18.28%, Robinhood Markets off 10.73%, and Hut 8 declining 10.54%, while Virtu Financial retreated 15.33% after announcing preliminary results and seeking $400 million in additional term loans. Western Union gained 13.27% to $8.88 amid a surge in call options trading, and Columbia Financial added 10.21% as regional banks rallied on prospects of a lending rebound.

Impact on stocks 16

Digital Finance & Tokenization± Mixed · 11 stocks
PayPal Holdings Inc
PYPL
▲ PositiveCapitalrelevance

Reports of a $53 billion joint takeover bid from Stripe and Advent International drove shares up 22.11%.

Visa Inc. Class A
V
▲ PositiveTechnologyrelevance

Visa introduced a new enterprise platform for stablecoin capabilities, driving shares up 2.75%.

Citigroup Inc.
C
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

Comments on additional investments and severance expenses despite topping estimates

Mastercard Inc
MA
▲ PositiveTechnologyrelevance

Visa introduced a new enterprise platform for stablecoin capabilities, boosting sentiment for Mastercard as a peer.

Western Union Co
WU
▲ Positiverelevance

Surge in call options trading, but no fundamental driver stated.

IREN Ltd
IREN
▼ Negativerelevance

Crypto-related stocks broadly lower amid tech selloff; IREN down 18.28%.

Financials± Mixed · 3 stocks
Virtu Financial, Inc.
VIRT
▼ NegativeCapitalrelevance

Announced preliminary results and seeking $400 million in additional term loans.

Climate Adaptation & Water · 2 stocks

Theme Impact 2

Related news

Chime Financial Agrees to Acquire Stride Bank

Chime Financial has entered a definitive agreement to acquire Stride Bank, a move that would give the digital banking and payments provider direct control over a bank charter and deposits. The deal would shift Chime away from its partner-bank reliant model and is expected to extend its national reach in consumer banking as it integrates Stride Bank's existing operations and customers. Chime, which operates in the Diversified Financial sector with consumer-focused accounts and card products, counts 9.1 million active members. The acquisition ties Chime's app-led engagement to a balance sheet of its own, which matters for products including Chime Card, MyPay and instant loans, and could reduce its reliance on interchange and partner banks for core economics. Owning Stride also raises new execution questions around regulation, capital and operational resilience.
Simply Wall St·3hRead more →

Suppajee Meets Indian Envoy, Pushes Co-Creation and Studies Baht-Rupee Use

Suppajee Suthamphan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, disclosed the outcome of talks with the Ambassador of the Republic of India to Thailand, Puneet Agrawal, that Thailand and India will advance cooperation in a "Co-Creation Co-Investment" format across six potential sectors: herbs and pharmaceuticals, IT, processed food, green industry, automotive, construction, and the hospitality industry, in order to link into global supply chains rather than merely exporting goods to each other's markets. Both sides assigned the start of joint work and progress within 45 days to pilot a model. Most recently, five to six Thai investors have shown interest in cooperating with India under this concept, and the Indian Ambassador reported that Indian companies are preparing to invest in data centers in Thailand, with several already in joint ventures with Thai companies. Both sides agreed to use the JTC platform as a mechanism to monitor cooperation, with India proposing that the JTC meeting draw up a Plan of Action for the services sector. The two sides are in the process of linking India's UPI payment system with Thailand's PromptPay, and are discussing the possibility of using local currencies, the baht and the rupee, to facilitate trade and reduce costs. India is Thailand's seventh-largest trading partner in the world and its number one trading partner in South Asia. Over the seven months from January to July 2026, trade between Thailand and India was worth 13.97456 billion US dollars, expanding 8.07 percent from the same period the previous year, with Thailand exporting 10.27032 billion US dollars to India and importing 3.70424 billion US dollars from India.
InfoQuest·7hRead more →
2

Partior and LSEG Partner on 24/7 Settlement, Targeting Q1 2027 Launch

Partior, which operates a blockchain-based payment network, announced on the 17th a partnership with LSEG DiSH, the settlement infrastructure arm of London Stock Exchange Group, to bring always-on settlement bank liquidity to international remittance networks. Partior is a blockchain-based interbank clearing and settlement network jointly founded in 2021 by JPMorgan, DBS Bank, and Temasek, with JPMorgan participating as one of its founding shareholders. Under the new framework, the two sides are developing a Multi Settlement Bank solution that combines LSEG DiSH's omnibus trust account with Partior's multi-currency clearing and settlement network, enabling 24/7 liquidity movement among multiple settlement banks. The aim is to reduce the need to pre-fund nostro and vostro accounts and to lessen reliance on remittance cut-off times. Partior, LSEG, and participating banks are currently conducting cross-industry testing and are preparing for a production launch in the first quarter of 2027 and for accepting additional settlement banks into the framework. Founding shareholder Standard Chartered and participating banks such as Deutsche Bank have also expressed their participation in the framework, with an eye toward future feature expansions such as intraday foreign exchange trading and securities settlement.
CoinPost·10hRead more →