Financials Up As Central Banks Talk Hikes - Financials Roundup

Banks, lenders and other financial companies rose as the Bank of England became the latest central bank to hint at a tightening of monetary conditions. If the European Central Bank, the BoE, the Federal Reserve and others move as they have promised, interest rates worldwide should begin to rise more rapidly, bringing a windfall to banks worldwide. Bank of America rose after The Wall Street Journal reported that Warren Buffett could convert some of his $16 billion in preferred stock to common equity in a vote of confidence in the second largest U.S. bank by assets, which passed the Federal Reserve's stress test. MetLife cleared one of the last obstacles to spinning off most of its longtime core business of selling life insurance to U.S. families. Delaware state insurance regulators approved the company's planned divestiture, which will create a new company called Brighthouse Financial. Stephan Feldgoise, co-head of Goldman Sachs's merger-and-acquisitions group in the Americas, is retiring from the firm at age 46.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 28, 2017 17:01 ET (21:01 GMT)