09:01 AM EDT, 06/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were edging higher pre-bell Thursday with the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) 0.02% higher recently.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was up 0.5% and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was 0.3% lower.

Carlyle Group ( CG ) was up more than 1% after saying it has agreed to acquire the Italy, Egypt, and Croatia gas-weighted exploration and production assets of Energean.