01:11 PM EDT, 09/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were advancing in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index up 0.5% and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) adding 0.3%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was increasing 0.9%, and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) was up 0.4%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 1.4% to $117,591, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 3 basis points to 4.10%.

In economic news, US initial jobless claims fell by 33,000 to a level of 231,000 in the employment survey week ended Sept. 13, more than reversing an increase of 28,000 claims to a level of 264,000 in the prior week. Expectations were for a level of 240,000 claims, according to Bloomberg.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, a measure of the manufacturing industry's health, rebounded to 23.2 in September from minus 0.3 in August, beating analysts' forecast of 1.7 as polled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial ( SMFG ) is considering investing over 100 billion yen ($677 million) in Jefferies Financial ( JEF ) , which would increase the Japanese lender's stake in the US investment bank to about 20% from 15%, Bloomberg reported. Jefferies shares gained 4.6%, and SMFG was up 0.7%.