Financial stocks continued to pad their pre-holiday gains, with the NYSE Financial Index and the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF) both rising 0.7% this afternoon. The Philadelphia Housing Index was climbing 0.1% but the SPDR Real Estate Select Sector ETF (XLRE) was down 0.2%.
Bitcoin was 3.6% higher at $50,769 while the yield for 10-year US Treasuries was 3.6 basis points higher at 1.493%.
In company news, Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) rose almost 12% after Thursday announcing plans to buy a “record number” of additional Antminer S19 XP bitcoin mining devices, increasing its total fleet to 199,000 miners once delivery is completed and the new machines are fully operational by early 2023. Marathon said a portion of the new miners will replace some of its existing devices, with its total hash rate growing more than 600% over current levels to around 23.3 quintillion hash per second.
Bit Digital (BTBT) was 7% higher this afternoon, reversing an 8.1% morning decline, after the bitcoin miner Thursday reported non-GAAP net income of $0.07 per ordinary share for its Q3 ended Sept. 30, more than doubling its $0.03 per share adjusted profit during the same quarter last year earlier but still lagging the single-analyst estimate expecting the company to earn $0.14 per share, excluding one-time items. Revenue increased 31.6% year-over-year to $10.4 million, also trailing the $19.6 million analyst call.
Preferred Bank (PFBC) rose 2.5% after Thursday announcing a 13.1% increase in its quarterly cash dividend to $0.43 per share beginning with its Jan. 21 payment to investors.
To the downside, Exela Technologies (XELA) was falling 1.5%, giving back a nearly 2% gain earlier Thursday that followed the transactions processor saying it has secured a three-year contract renewal with an unidentified insurer with an expected value of around $3.5 million.