Financials Down as Treasury Yields Continue to Gain -- Financials Roundup

Shares of banks and other financial institutions fell as fears about a spike in Treasury yields and the Californian wildfires weighed.

The 10-year Treasury yield, a benchmark for a range of consumer loans including mortgages, closed at the highest level since November 2023 after surprisingly strong labor-market data.

Shares of property-and-casualty insurers that serve the Californian market, including Allstate, Travelers, and Chubb lost ground. Shares in Mercury General, whose business is concentrated in California, with almost 80% of its premiums written there, lost roughly one-fifth of its value.

The wildfires could push more insurers out of the state, exacerbating affordability issues in the natural-disaster plagued state.

The benchmark 30-year yield topping 5% for only the second time since the 2008 financial crisis. Jefferies Financial Group shares rose slid after the Wall Street investment bank's earnings lagged analysts' expectations.

Robust jobs data and rising consumer concerns about inflation have stoked fears that the second Trump administration will preside over another inflation crisis.

Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-10-25 1744ET