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This week’s winners among financial stocks were led by two fintech firms, one cryptocurrency exchange, one regional bank and one property & casualty insurer, while the five stocks the fell the most featured a mix of insurers and reinsurers.
Overall, financial stocks closed out the holiday-shortened week ended June 2 with solid gains, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF) climbing 2.2% and outpacing the stock market’s 1.8% advance.
SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI), known for refinancing student loans, rose the most of any financial stock (with market cap over $2B) during the week, +34.9%, as investors cheered a provision in the U.S. debt ceiling package that sets a definitive end for the pause on the repayments of federal student loans;
Upstart Holdings (NASDAQ:UPST), which provides lending platforms for banks and other financial institutions, jumped 24.6% in the wake of a broader rally among fintechs;
Even with the price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) slipping, crypto exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) accelerated 13.5% as Atlantic Equities upgraded the stock to Overweight from Neutral;
Montana-based Glacier Bancorp (NYSE:GBCI) gapped up 11.9%; and
Kinsale Capital Group (NYSE:KNSL) gained 11.8% after attracting an analyst upgrade on the P&C insurer’s “compelling growth outlook.”
On the other side of the fence, reinsurers Everest Re Group (NYSE:RE), -4.7%, and RenaissanceRe Holdings (NYSE:RNR), -2.2%, experienced the biggest, albeit relatively soft, losses. That was followed by insurers Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ:ACGL), -2%, Unum Group (NYSE:UNM), -1.5%, and Assurant (NYSE:AIZ), -1.4%.
SA contributor The Asian Investor laid out a Strong Buy recommendation for SOFI, calling it a short squeeze candidate.
