Adam Gault
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks on Friday that it’s time to adjust policy rates helped lift stocks that sagged when interest rates remained elevated.
In addition, bitcoin (BTC-USD) is said to benefit from lower interest rates, pushing one bitcoin miner’s stock up to the biggest gainer of the week in the financials sector. Bitcoin rose 7.4% for the week.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) climbed 1.5% in the week, rising at about the same pace as the S&P 500.
Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) made the biggest gain, rising 15% in the past five sessions;
Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST), which provides an AI-driven lending platform for banks and credit unions, climbed 14%;
Texas Capital Bancshares (NASDAQ:TCBI) rose 11%; earlier in the month it launched a direct lending platform;
Rocket Companies (NYSE:RKT), known for Rocket Mortgages, increased 11% during the week;
And Freedom Holding (NASDAQ:FRHC), which provides securities brokerage, market-making, investment research and other financial services, added 11%, rounding out the week’s five biggest climbers.
Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) logged the largest decline for the week, dropping 8.0%, after a report that its Western Asset Management unit is the subject of a federal criminal investigation on how one of its managers allocated trades;
Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA) stock slid 5.4% during the week that it reported Q2 operating income that dropped 85% Y/Y.
Better Home & Finance Holding (NASDAQ:BETR) dipped 4.8%;
Aegon (NYSE:AEG) fell 4.5% after it announced its CEO is leaving for another opportunity;
Bancolombia (NYSE:CIB) declined 3.0% during a week that it was downgraded to Sell at Goldman Sachs due to its weak earnings momentum.
