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This week’s five biggest financial gainers mostly comprised cryptocurrency-linked companies, while Argentine lenders took the lead among the decliners.
Overall, financial stocks (with market cap over $2B) finished the week ended May 24 in the red, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF) retreating 2.1%. The S&P 500, by comparison, remained virtually unchanged.
Crypto exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) rose the most of any financial stock, jumping 14.5%, as bitcoin (BTC-USD) and other digital tokens advanced during the week in which the SEC approved applications for eight exchange-traded funds that invest directly in ether (ETH-USD) in a landmark decision. Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Coinbase in a case where the exchange contended that disputes about a sweepstakes it ran should only be settled by arbitration.
Investment firm StepStone Group (NASDAQ:STEP), which during the week posted Q1 results, drove up 11.8%;
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) miner CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) ascended 10%;
Hamilton Lane (NASDAQ:HLNE) gained 9.8% after the private equity firm delivered Q1 numbers and raised its dividend; and
Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA), a fellow BTC miner, accelerated 9.1%.
For the losers, BBVA Argentina (NYSE:BBAR) dropped 14.1% on the heels of disclosing its Q1 results;
Brazilian investment bank XP (NASDAQ:XP) slumped 13.8% even after its board approved an up to R$1B share buyback program;
Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) and Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA), two other Argentine banks, slid 11.5% and 10.3%, respectively; and
New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB) rounded out the five biggest decliners with a 9.8% loss.
