03:27 PM EDT, 05/22/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were advancing in late Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index up 0.2% and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) adding 0.3%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was rising 0.2%, and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) was fractionally higher.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose 1.9% to $111,702, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries dropped 4 basis points to 4.55%.

In economic news, US initial jobless claims fell to 227,000 in the week ended May 17 from 229,000 in the previous week, compared with expectations for an increase to 230,000 in surveys of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

The pace of existing home sales slowed 0.5% to a 4 million seasonally adjusted annual rate in April from 4.02 million in March, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The consensus was for 4.1 million in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.

The May flash reading of manufacturing conditions from S&P Global rose to a three-month high of 52.3, from 50.2 in April, compared with the 49.9 estimate in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In sector news, JPMorgan ( JPM ) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said he's not ruling out that the US could fall into stagflation as it faces ongoing geopolitical and fiscal risks, Bloomberg reported.

Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken plans to allow non-US customers to trade popular stocks like Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) as tokens over a digital ledger, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

In corporate news, JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) agreed to provide over $7 billion to the companies building OpenAI's AI data center campus in Abilene, Texas, The Information reported. JPMorgan ( JPM ) shares added 0.4%.