The S&P 500 is sporting a solid gain of 1.0%, but is off its
session high when it was up 1.4%. The pullback from its best level has
been mostly broad-based, although the financial sector has seen the
sharpest drop.
The financial sector is currently trading up 0.4% after retreating from
a gain of 3.4%. The life and health insurance group (-2.2%) is posting
the largest decline within the sector. MetLife (-2.63) reported a
larger-than-expected drop in profit due to the declining equity market
and catastrophes in its homeowners business. Second quarter earnings
per share declined 24% year-over-year to $1.20, which missed the
consensus estimate by $0.21.