01:58 PM EDT, 06/05/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were higher in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index advancing 0.3% and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) up 0.1%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was adding 0.2%, and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) was increasing 0.4%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was declining 1.7% to $103,476, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was rising 4.3 basis points to 4.40%.

In economic news, Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump to remove "negative" measures in trade negotiations and said that Trump was welcome to visit China, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a transcript of the phone conversation between the leaders published by China's state broadcaster. Xi agreed to more trade talks, the report added.

US initial jobless claims rose to a level of 247,000 in the week ended May 31 from a downwardly revised 239,000 level in the previous week, compared with expectations for a decrease to 235,000 in a survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

The US international trade deficit narrowed significantly to $61.62 billion in April from a $138.32 billion gap in March, narrower than the $66.0 billion gap expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, TPG's (TPG) credit and real estate investment unit TPG Angelo Gordon will be an anchor investor in a loan package for xAI, Elon Musk's AI startup, Bloomberg reported. TPG shares rose 0.8%.

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) and Morgan Stanley ( MS ) are arranging a $350 million project financing for TeraWulf (WULF), which the two banks plan to sell to private credit firms, Bloomberg reported. JPMorgan ( JPM ) shares were down 0.3%, while Morgan Stanley ( MS ) rose 2.1%.

EU antitrust authorities are deepening their probe into Visa (V) and Mastercard ( MA ) , sending detailed questionnaires to retailers and payment firms to assess concerns about opaque fee structures, Reuters reported Wednesday. Visa shares were up 0.1%, and Mastercard ( MA ) was fractionally higher.