03:49 PM EDT, 09/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were higher in late Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) each rising about 0.2%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index increased 0.9%, and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) eased 0.1%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) climbed 1.1% to $117,794, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 2.8 basis points to 4.10%.

In economic news, US initial jobless claims last week fell by 33,000 to 231,000, more than reversing an increase of 28,000 to 264,000 in the prior week.

The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index rebounded to 23.2 in September from minus 0.3 in August, beating analyst forecasts of 1.7 in a Bloomberg survey.

In corporate news, Goldman Sachs' ( GS ) chief US equity strategist, David Kostin, will retire at the end of 2025, Bloomberg reported. Goldman shares rose 1.1%.

KKR (KKR) will sell Integrated Specialty Coverages to Onex Partners, the companies said. KKR shares added 3.4%.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial ( SMFG ) is considering investing over 100 billion yen ($677 million) in Jefferies Financial ( JEF ) , which would increase the Japanese lender's stake in the US investment bank to about 20% from 15%, Bloomberg reported. Jefferies shares gained 5.7%, and SMFG was up 0.8%.

Apollo (APO) is planning to raise about $10 billion from insurers via a special-purpose vehicle that would sell debt backed by stakes in its credit funds, Bloomberg reported. Apollo shares rose 3.2%.