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Financial stocks slipped this past week as a better-than-forecast nonfarm payrolls report knocked some sense into traders’ notion that the Federal Reserve’s highly-anticipated monetary easing next year may not be as aggressive as they had expected.
With the wake-up call induced by the jobs report, financial stocks ticked down for the week ended Dec. 8, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF) inching down 0.1%. The S&P 500, by contrast, edged up 0.2%.
Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD) rose the most of any financial stock, (with market cap $2B+) this week, surging 25.9%, as the rally in bitcoin (BTC-USD) reflected positively on the purportedly third-largest bitcoin holder. Armed with the bitcoin rally, the trading app said it launched commission-free crypto trading in the European Union.
Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA) jumped 22.5% as the aforementioned bitcoin (BTC-USD) surge also helped the bitcoin miner;
Regional bank Axos Financial (NYSE:AX) climbed 19.6% amid news it acquired two loan portfolios with a combined principal balance of $1.25B from the FDIC;
Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), another bitcoin miner, accelerated 15% on news of a new purchase order that’s expected to boost its scale and improve fleet efficiency; and
Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST), the AI-driven lending platform, gained 14.1%.
On the negative side, RenaissanceRe Holdings (NYSE:RNR) took the lead, sliding 5.9%;
Everest Group (NYSE:EG), another reinsurer, dipped 5.6%;
Tradeweb Markets (NASDAQ:TW), which during the week posted an annual jump in average daily volume, fell 4.7%;
Futu Holdings (NASDAQ:FUTU), a Hong Kong-based fintech company, retreated 4.4%; and
Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL) rounded out the five biggest losers, gapping down 4%.