09:06 AM EDT, 06/03/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were falling pre-bell Wednesday, with the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) declining by 0.6%.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (FAS) was down 1.5% and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) was 1.9% higher.

Blackstone (BX) is mulling the sale of payments services provider SP.LINKS, looking to fetch about 100 billion Japanese yen ($626 million) from the transaction, Bloomberg reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Blackstone shares were down more than 5% premarket.