Financials Fall As Traders Hedge On Rates - Financials Roundup

Banks, lenders and other financial companies declined as traders hedged their bets on the outlook for interest rates. Recent central-bank statements mark "the beginning of the end of ultra-easy monetary policy," said Richard Turnill, global chief investment strategist at BlackRock. "The major catalyst for the upward shift" in interest rates was "European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's June comments on the need to normalize policy," Mr. Turnill said, adding that "the Fed appears committed to normalizing interest rates further and initiating its balance sheet reduction this year." Private equity firm KKR promoted two senior executives -- Joe Bae and Scott Nuttal to run its day-to-day operations, a step in planning for the succession of Henry Kravis and George Roberts, who co-founded the private-equity pioneer in 1976. Mr. Bae and Mr. Nuttal were named co-president and co-chief operating officer and added them to the firm's board, according to a statement, with the former set to lead KKR's private-equity, real-estate, infrastructure and energy investment operations and the latter its hedge funds, debt investments and capital-markets businesses. BlackRock pulled in another $103.6 billion in the second quarter, much of it into its exchange-traded fund unit iShares, as passive funds continue to draw money from funds run by human stock and bond pickers. BlackRock's quarterly earnings also rose.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2017 16:35 ET (20:35 GMT)