Bank and thriftstocks were in positive territory around midday Wednesday, March 30. The SNL U.S.Bank Index went up 1.30% to 385.28, and the SNL U.S. Thrift Index climbed 0.79%to 795.15.
The broadermarkets also moved higher.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.54% to 17,729.16, the S&P 500 increased0.51% to 2,065.48 and the Nasdaq composite index advanced 0.53% to 4,872.25.
Boston-basedState Street Corp. saw itsstock increase 0.55% to $58.47 amid news that the company agreed to GE Asset Management Inc. from General Electric Co. in a cash transaction with a purchaseprice of $435 million, subject to adjustments, with up to an additional $50 milliontied to incremental opportunities with GE.
rose 0.78% to $13.52,Citigroup Inc. climbed1.03% to $42.15, JPMorgan Chase &Co. increased 1.69% to $60.05 and Wells Fargo & Co. advanced 2.08% to $49.05 around midday.
Among thrifts,Westbury, N.Y.-based New York CommunityBancorp Inc. gained 1.45% to $16.13; Lake Success, N.Y.-based climbed 1.52%to $16.07; and Cleveland-based TFSFinancial Corp. (MHC) went up 2.26% to $17.65.
In macroeconomicnews, mortgage applicationsslipped 1.0% from one week earlier, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the MortgageBankers Association reported March 30, citing the results of its weekly mortgageapplications survey. On an unadjusted basis, the market composite index, which measuresmortgage loan application volume, decreased 1% week over week.
increased by 200,000jobs in March, according to the recently released ADP National Employment Report.The February jobs gain was revised downward to 205,000 from 214,000.
In March, jobgains in large businesses decreased to 39,000, compared to February's 77,000. Smallbusinesses recorded the largest increase in the month in terms of company size asthey added 86,000 employees over the course of the month, compared to February'sdownwardly revised 68,000. Employment in medium businesses increased by 75,000,up from 60,000 added in February.
Market prices and index values are current as ofthe time of publication and are subject to change.