Virtu notches biggest weekly gain; LPLA slides the most: financials roundup

With earnings season starting to enter the busy phase, this week’s top five winners among financial stocks with at least $2B market cap included one institutional brokerage, three crypto-tied companies and one regional bank. Conversely, three brokerages, one insurer and one asset manager fell the most.

Financial stocks (NYSEARCA:XLF), overall, advanced 1.1% for the week ended July 19, trouncing the broader S&P 500’s 2% dip.

Logging the biggest gain, Virtu Financial (NASDAQ:VIRT) surged 31% after turning in Q2 earnings and revenue that easily topped Wall Street expectations, thanks in part to an improvement in its core equity market making unit;

Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and Marathon Digital Holdings (NASDAQ:MARA), both of which are in the business of mining bitcoin (BTC-USD), jumped 23% and 19%, respectively, as bitcoin is on track to record a double-digit weekly climb;

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) took the fourth slot, ascending 18%, in the wake of crypto-market appreciation; and

BankUnited (NYSE:BKU) popped 17% after the Miami Lakes, Florida-based regional lender posted better-than-expected Q2 results.

On the negative side, LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) plunged 20%;

Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) sank 18% after its finance chief told investors that the online brokerage may look to reduce its bank level debt, a move that may, in turn, affect its stock buyback plans. TD Cowen subsequently downgraded SCHW, saying the company lacks earnings power.

Selective Insurance Group (NASDAQ:SIGI), slumped 15% after the insurer recorded a Q2 loss, rather than a profit, on weak underwriting results;

Raymond James Financial (NYSE:RJF) slid 10.3%; and

rounding out the five biggest losers, Hong Kong-based Futu Holdings (NASDAQ:FUTU) gapped down 10.2%.