Sector Update: Financial Stocks Rise Thursday Afternoon

01:57 PM EDT, 09/17/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Financial stocks were advancing in Thursday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index rising 0.5% and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) up 0.2%. The Philadelphia Housing Index added 0.2%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) rose 0.6%. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) was increasing 0.8% to $76,785, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was falling 5.3 basis points to 4.953%. In corporate news, Blackstone (BX) is seeking to arrange a secondary sale for investors in its $57.7 billion Blackstone Property Partners strategy to provide liquidity amid redemption pressure, Bloomberg reported. Blackstone has held discussions with potential buyers and is taking a more formal role in arranging the deals, the report said. Blackstone shares were up 2%. Apollo Global Management (APO) is in talks with SoftBank to increase the size of a loan to $9 billion from $5.4 billion to support SoftBank's investment in OpenAI, Bloomberg reported. Separately, Apollo is exploring either a full or partial sale of Energos Infrastructure that could value the floating liquified natural gas infrastructure provider at over $3 billion, Reuters reported. Apollo shares rose 2.7%. Jefferies Financial's (JEF) fund LAM Trade Finance Group II is seeking to extend a $499 million worldwide freezing order against Radiant World after the iron ore trader disclosed "enormously lower" cash and inventory levels than reported in its latest annual accounts, Bloomberg reported. Jefferies shares added 1.3%.