03:41 PM EDT, 04/01/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks advanced late Wednesday afternoon, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 0.6% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) up 0.2%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index added 0.7%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) rose 0.7%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) decreased 0.2% to $68,125, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was slightly higher at nearly 4.32%.

In corporate news, BlackRock ( BLK ) now manages about 7.5 billion Australian dollars ($5.21 billion) of the country's Future Fund's alternatives portfolio, growing its Australia wealth fund mandate by 74% over the last two years, Bloomberg reported, citing its analysis of the fund's filings. BlackRock ( BLK ) shares were down 0.2%.