03:46 PM EDT, 04/09/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks fell in late Tuesday afternoon trading with the NYSE Financial Index down 0.4% and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) dropped 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was little changed, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) rose 0.9%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) dropped 3.9% to $68,811, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries declined 5.8 basis points to 4.366%.

In economic news, the National Federation of Independent Business optimism index fell to 88.5 in March, the lowest since 2012.

On Wednesday, the US consumer price index will likely show a headline gain of 3.4% annualized for March, up from 3.2% in February, while growth in the core, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, will probably slow to 3.7% from 3.8% a month earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In corporate news, Blockchain Coinvestors Acquisition Corp. I ( BCSA ) and Linqto have a merger deal that will result in Linqto becoming a unit of the blank-check firm. Blockchain Coinvestors shares rose 0.2%.

Blue Owl Capital (OWL) shares fell 1.5% after the company said Tuesday it is buying real estate lender Prima Capital Advisors for $170 million.

Blackstone (BX) is close to securing a funding deal with L'Occitane's owner Reinold Geiger to take L'Occitane private, Bloomberg reported late Monday. Blackstone shares gained 1.5%.

Whitestone REIT's ( WSR ) shareholder Erez Asset Management said it's proposing changes to the composition of Whitestone's board to address the company's alleged persistent underperformance. Whitestone shares dropped 0.3%.