01:55 PM EDT, 06/04/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were higher in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 2.2% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) climbing 2.5%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index increased 0.5%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) added 1%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was falling 1.4% to $63,157, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries decreased 2.2 basis points to 4.469%.

In economic news, US initial jobless claims rose to a level of 225,000 in the week ended May 30 from a downwardly revised 212,000 level in the previous week, compared with expectations for a 215,000 level in survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg.

Nonfarm productivity was revised down to a 0.3% growth pace in Q1 from a 0.8% increase in the previous estimate, below a 0.4% gain expected in a survey of analysts compiled by Bloomberg and following a 1.6% gain in Q4.

In corporate news, Bank of America ( BAC ) shares rose 2.7% after it said Thursday it plans to introduce a cross-border real-time payment service for corporate and financial institution clients to instantly transfer funds via Swift or its digital CashPro system.

Blackstone's (BX) Blackstone Private Credit Fund said repurchase requests equaled about 10% of shares outstanding in Q2, but it will fulfill requests representing just 5% of its value, according to media reports on Thursday. Blackstone shares climbed 7.4%.

Affirm (AFRM) and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board said Thursday that they have renewed and expanded their forward-flow agreement for consumer installment loans. Affirm shares rose 3.2%.