Financials Down as Traders Doubt Fed Plans -- Financials Roundup

Banks, lenders and other financial companies ticked down as traders continued to bet that the Federal Reserve would not raise rates as aggressively as current plans indicate.

The Fed's "dot plot" suggests the central bank will increase rates twice more this year. But Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial, said market participants are anticipating just one hike.

"The markets don't believe it," said Ms. Krosby. "With the economic data released so far, and inflation number, they don't see that happening," she added.

This time around, the slide in oil prices does not seem to have affected the junk-bond market. The three-month correlation between U.S. crude oil prices and the iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond exchange-traded fund is around 40%, compared with readings over 70% last year, according to Macro Risk Advisors.

--By Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2017 16:38 ET (20:38 GMT)