Shares of banks and other lenders and money managers were more or less flat on the session and the week after mixed fortunes for the sector in third-quarter earnings season.
Custodian banks State Street and Bank of New York Mellon posted lower profit in the third quarter, reflecting depressed interest rates, even as assets under management rose at both firms.
Wall Street banks such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group thrived on volatile markets in the third quarter, but many banks with less of an emphasis on trading struggled because of low rates.
Friday also saw a wave of deal activity in the financial sector. North Carolina bank First Citizens BancShares agreed to consolidate with New York lender CIT Group in an all-stock merger of equals that will create one of the nation's largest banks.
Exchange operator Cboe Global Markets has agreed to buy BIDS Trading, which runs an off-exchange "dark pool," a sort of opaque electronic alternative to the exchanges that CBOE runs, the companies said Friday.
Ant Group, the owner of popular Chinese mobile-payments network Alipay and the world's most valuable startup, is scrambling to launch an initial-public offering in Shanghai and Hong Kong ahead of the U.S. presidential elections.
The British pound sterling was more or less flat against the dollar and the euro even as United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened to walk away from negotiations with the European Union, initiating a "no deal Brexit."
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-16-20 1705ET
