BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. financial sector slipped into negative territory Tuesday, taking its week-to-date loss to about 3% as investors remain cautious on riskier assets.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund rose at Tuesday's open after falling the three previous sessions on worries over Europe's debt problems and a slowdown in the U.S. economy. However, the sector turned red along with the overall market in late-morning trade.
Bank stocks failed to get a lift from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke saying he doesn't envision a double-dip recession. See full story on the Fed chief's statements.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares continued to lose ground Tuesday in the wake of the bank receiving a subpoena from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The stock is down nearly 20% so far in 2010.
Conversely, Ambac Financial Group Inc. shares were up more than 10% in morning action after the bond insurer said it has commuted all of its remaining $16 payday loans with no fax.4 billion of exposure to collateralized debt obligations of asset-backed securities.
Elsewhere in the financial sector, a pair of stocks was boosted by upgrades at Stifel Nicolaus. MPG Office Trust Inc. and SunTrust Banks Inc. were both upgraded to hold from sell.
"We are upgrading our rating on SunTrust to hold from sell in the face of the recent and significant share price weakness," the analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. "As such, we no longer have any sell ratings within our large-cap bank coverage."
Visa Inc. shares were slightly negative Tuesday. The credit-card network in a filing said U.S. aggregate payments volume growth rose 15% in May from the year-ago period.
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