Financials Give Back Some Gains As Treasury Yields Stall -- Financials Roundup

Shares of banks and other financial institutions gave back some of their recent gains as a rally in Treasury yields stalled.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note initially spiked Friday, at one stage trading at 1.748% before calming after the Federal Reserve said it wouldn't extend temporary capital relief to banks aimed at soothing the pandemic's strains in Treasury markets. The decision means banks will lose the temporary ability to exclude Treasurys and deposits held at the central bank from key disclosures on "supplementary leverage ratio."

The 10-year Treasury yield closed slightly lower on the session, but remains within a whisker of a 12-month high. Major stock-market indexes finished the week with modest losses as investors awaited further signals from the Treasury market.

Chubb, one of the nation's biggest, oldest and best-known property-casualty insurers, has made a preliminary proposal to acquire Hartford Financial Services Group, a 211-year-old institution that's also prominent in U.S. financial history.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $410 million for a 10% stake in the wealth-management unit of China Merchants Bank, as the U.S. financial industry continues to make inroads in China.

The Justice Department is investigating whether Visa is engaging in anticompetitive practices in the debit-card market, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-19-21 1636ET