XLF - Western Alliance leads financial stocks higher in week; Coinbase falls with bitcoin

2023-04-22 10:18:00 ET

Two of the regional bank stocks that were hit the hardest after the failures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank, buoyed the most of financial stocks in the past week. Meanwhile, a cryptocurrency exchange was the biggest decliner.

Overall, financial stocks edged up for the week, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLF ) gaining 1.0% , outperforming the S&P 500 which nudged down 0.1% in the past five sessions.

Western Alliance Bancorp ( NYSE: WAL ) surged 28% during the week ended April 21, although the stock is down 32% YTD. During the week, the bank was added to Wedbush's Best Ideas List and famed bond investor Bill Gross named WAL as one of the bank stocks that he recently bought .

RLI Corp. ( NYSE: RLI ) climbed 14% during the week after its Q1 earnings beat consensus , helped by a 16% increase in gross premiums written and a 51% rise in net investment income.

First Republic Bank ( NYSE: FRC ), down 88% YTD, perked up 8.7%.

White Mountains Insurance Group ( NYSE: WTM ), an insurance company, increased 8.1%; and

Brazilian fintech Nu Holdings ( NYSE: NU ), known as NuBank, advanced 7.1% .

The financial stocks that slumped the most this week were led by Coinbase Global ( NASDAQ: COIN ) during a week when bitcoin ( BTC-USD ), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, slumped 11%. COIN dropped 16% during the week. Earlier in the week, CEO Brian Armstrong said the crypto exchange might consider relocating outside of the U.S.

Other decliners include:

Argentinian bank Banco Macro ( NYSE: BMA ), down 13% ;

Shangha-based financial services platform Lufax Holding ( NYSE: LU ), off 9.9% ;

Argentinian bank Grupo Financiero Galicia ( NASDAQ: GGAL ), -8.4% ; and

Boston-based trust bank State Street ( NYSE: STT ), which slid 8.0% in the week that its Q1 earnings and revenue trailed the consensus estimates.

On Friday, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) retreated for a third straight day, sitting on key support level

More on Bank Earnings:

• JPMorgan is Clear Winner Amidst Panic-Driven Chaos
• Buy Citigroup Before the Future Buybacks Raise The Valuation
• Morgan Stanley: Last of Big Banks to Report, Third of Big Banks in Performance
• Goldman Sachs: Weak Q1 Earnings but Long-Term Outlook is Bright

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