Financial Sector ETF Hits Record High on Fintech Gains

Shares of the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) touched a fresh all-time high Tuesday. That gain is part of a broader shift in the market. Money has moved out of high-flying tech names and into more traditional corners of Wall Street.

XLF hit an all-time high of $57.33 Tuesday, lifting assets to $49.18 billion. Coinbase and Block each gained more than 5% in the latest session. PayPal surged 26.6% over the past month, the fund’s biggest gainer. XLF’s advance came even as some of the tech weakness that fueled the broader shift faded. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8% and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) dropped 4% in early trading. Both had recovered by Tuesday afternoon, with the Nasdaq Composite up 0.04% and SMH up 2.8%. Healthcare stocks climbed alongside financials. The State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV) also touched a fresh intraday record.

XLF’s new high shows that the rally in financial stocks reaches well beyond the big banks that typically dominate the sector. The fund opened at $57.13 on Tuesday and touched an intraday high of $57.33, matching its 52-week high. It has $49.18 billion in assets. With holdings spanning banks, insurers, payment processors, and exchanges, the fund gives investors broad exposure across the financial sector rather than a narrow bet on any single corner of it.

Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) rose 5.8% and Block, Inc. (XYZ) climbed 5.3%. FactSet Research Systems Inc. (FDS) added 4.5% and Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) gained nearly 4%. Alternative asset managers and large lenders carried more of the load over the past week. Blackstone Inc. (BX) gained 7.3% and Ares Management Corp. (ARES) added 5.4%. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) rose 5.1%.

XLF’s climb over the past month tells a similar story, with the fund up more than 6% in that span. Payment companies once again led the way. PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL) rose 26.6% over the past month, the fund’s largest gain among individual holdings for the period. Global Payments Inc. (GPN) added 20.4% and Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) climbed 20.1%. Exchange operators Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ) and Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (CBOE) also gained over the same stretch. NDAQ rose 19.6% and CBOE climbed 19.3%. ARES, also one of the fund’s top performers this past week, climbed 17.1% over the past month, one of several capital markets firms among XLF’s biggest monthly gainers.