Financial exchange traded funds moved to the upside Friday morning as M&A hopes for the banking sector were raised following Capital One’s (NYSE: COF) $9 billion bid for ING Direct (NYSE: ING).
However, shares of ratings agencies traded lower after The Wall Street Journal reported U.S. securities regulators are mulling civil charges against the firms for their role in facilitating mortgage-bond deals that helped trigger the credit meltdown.
The SEC is looking at McGraw-Hill (NYSE: MHP) unit Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s (NYSE: MCO), according to the report. Both stocks lost ground early Friday.
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEArca: XLF) was up nearly 1% but Capital One shares were off after the company announced the ING Direct acquisition.