By Greg Morcroft, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Financial stocks traded broadly higher Friday but not enough to make up all the ground lost earlier in the week.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF /zigman2/quotes/209660484/composite XLF -0.19% , which tracks the financial stocks in the S&P 500, finished the week down 5.5% at $12.50. The KBW Bank Index /zigman2/quotes/210598427/realtime BKX -0.30% , which tracks the top 24 U.S. banks, lost 5%.
/zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX 4,136.48, -43.28, -1.04%
Overall, the financial sector was the hardest hit among the major industry groups on the S&P 500 Index /zigman2/quotes/210599714/realtime SPX -1.04% , which closed the week down 3.8%. Euro zone issues continued to make investors anxious.
In Friday trading, the NYSE Euronext gained after it and Deutsche Boerse said they sent a proposal to address the antitrust concerns of the European Commission over a pending merger of the two exchange operators.
NYSE Euronext NYX 0.00% and Deutsche Boerse /zigman2/quotes/203431168/delayed DBOEY -2.55% proposed to sell the portions of their respective businesses in which they overlap, the market operators said in a joint statement.
“NYSE Euronext would divest its pan-European single equity derivatives business, including Bclear, except the options businesses in its home markets, where Deutsche Boerse would divest its respective business,” the statement said.
NYSE Euronext rose 2% to close at 27.10.
Among the biggest U.S. banks, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. /zigman2/quotes/205971034/composite JPM +1.55% , Citigroup Inc /zigman2/quotes/207741460/composite C -1.47% , and Wells Fargo gained.
Bank of America Corp /zigman2/quotes/200894270/composite BAC +0.83% and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. /zigman2/quotes/209237603/composite GS +0.13% edged lower.
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