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Three of the five biggest financial gainers this week included non-U.S. banks, as a basket of currencies strengthened against the U.S. dollar, while two of the top five biggest decliners were bitcoin (BTC-USD) miners, as cryptocurrency prices lost some buying momentum.
Overall, financial stocks (with market cap over $2B) finished the holiday-shortened week ended Feb. 23 in the green, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF) up 1.7%, matching the S&P 500’s 1.7% ascent. Of the 11 S&P 500 sectors, financials was the week’s fifth best performer.
Banco Macro S.A. (NYSE:BMA), an Argentina-based lender, rose the most of any financial stock this past week, climbing 16.3%;
Taking second place, specialty insurance company Kinsale Capital Group (NYSE:KNSL) gapped up 16.1%;
Barclays Plc (NYSE:BCS), which during the week laid out a three-year plan involving buybacks and cost-cutting measures, jumped 15.3%;
Peru’s Intercorp Financial Services (NYSE:IFS), which SA’s Catalyst Watch flagged as one of the most overbought stocks per the 14-day relative strength index, gained 10.7%; and
Rounding out the five biggest winners, Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS) accelerated 9.9% after Capital One (COF) agreed to buy the credit card issuer in a stock-based deal valued at $35.3B.
For the losers, bitcoin (BTC-USD) miner Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) topped the list, sliding 11.2%, as bitcoin took a breather from its bull run;
Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST), which provides an AI-driven lending platform for banks and credit unions, fell 10.6%;
Fellow BTC miner Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), which during the week posted mixed full-year 2023 results, shed 10.2%;
F&G Annuities & Life (NYSE:FG), down 9.5%, fell after its Q4 earnings fell short of the average analyst estimate; and
Struggling regional lender New York Community Bancorp (NYSE:NYCB) retreated 8.3%, bringing its year-to-date loss to 54.9%.