09:30 AM EDT, 07/18/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were leaning lower pre-bell Thursday as the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund ( XLF ) was down 0.4% recently.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares ( FAS ) was 1.3% lower and its bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares ( FAZ ) was up 0.8%.

Virtu Financial ( VIRT ) rose past 7% after it reported higher Q2 normalized adjusted earnings and revenue.

Marsh & McLennan ( MMC ) reported a Q2 revenue of $6.22 billion, compared with $5.88 billion a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Capital IQ expected $6.31 billion. Marsh & McLennan ( MMC ) was down over 2% pre-bell.

Blackstone (BX) reported Q2 revenue of $2.80 billion, compared with $2.81 billion a year earlier. The company also lowered its quarterly dividend to $0.82 per share, payable Aug. 5 to shareholders of record as of July 29. Blackstone was over 2% lower premarket.