Sector Update: Financial Stocks Advance Friday Afternoon

02:02 PM EST, 02/06/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks rose in Friday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index climbing 1.6% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) adding 1.5%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index increased 0.8%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) rose 1%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 10% to $69,589, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was slightly higher at nearly 4.22%.

In economic news, the University of Michigan's preliminary consumer sentiment index rises to 57.3 in February from 56.4 in January, higher than expectations for a decrease to 55.0 in a Bloomberg-compiled poll.

Officials within the Trump administration are weighing opening an antitrust investigation into US homebuilders, as part of a White House effort to address the country's housing affordability crisis, Bloomberg reported. The Department of Justice may open the investigation in the coming weeks, although no decision has been made and the White House could abandon the plan, the report said.

In corporate news, Piper Sandler (PIPR) shares climbed past 10% after it reported Q4 adjusted earnings that topped analyst estimates and declared a special dividend.

Goldman Sachs (GS) said Friday it is collaborating with Anthropic to develop AI agents aimed at automating various banking functions, CNBC reported, citing the firm's technology chief, Marco Argenti. Goldman shares were up 4.3%.

TPG (TPG) has agreed to buy a majority stake in Sabre Industries, a provider of critical infrastructure for power utilities, telecoms and data centers, Bloomberg reported. TPG is buying the stake from Blackstone's (BX) Energy Transition Partners, which will continue to hold a minority interest in the company, the report said. TPG shares rose 3.5%, and Blackstone was up 2.3%.

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