09:02 AM EST, 12/24/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were edging up pre-bell Wednesday, with the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLF ) advancing 0.3%.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares ( FAS ) advanced 0.5%, and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares ( FAZ ) was 0.4% lower.

Barclays ( BCS ) and NatWest Group ( NWG ) have moved into the second round of an auction for UK wealth manager Evelyn Partners, Sky News reported late Tuesday. Barclays ( BCS ) shares were 0.6% higher premarket, while NatWest ( NWG ) was flat.

Ellington Financial ( EFC ) stock was up nearly 1% premarket, a day after the company filed a shelf registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the potential sale of securities from time to time in one or more offerings.

Blackstone (BX) was edging up 0.2% pre-bell after the company said overnight that it expects to record more than $1 billion in realized revenues from investment realizations between Oct. 1 and Dec. 23, 2025.