Financial stocks were advancing in late Wednesday afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index and the State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF) each adding 0.7%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index was shedding 0.1%, and the State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE) was up 0.1%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) climbed 7.3% to $73,482, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries rose 2.9 basis points to 4.09%.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management's US services index rose to 56.1 in February from 53.8 in January, compared with expectations for 53.5 in a survey compiled by Bloomberg.

ADP's monthly measure of private payrolls showed a 63,000 increase in February, higher than the 50,000 expected in a Bloomberg-compiled survey.

In corporate news, Coinbase (COIN) Chief Executive Brian Armstrong met privately Tuesday with President Donald Trump ahead of Trump's publicly backing the crypto industry in its escalating clash with banks over stalled digital asset legislation, Politico reported Wednesday. Coinbase shares jumped 15%.

Shares of Strategy (MSTR), a cryptocurrency company, gained past 10%.

Goldman Sachs (GS) has further reduced the price on a downsized $1.25 billion financing tied to Arclin's acquisition of DuPont de Nemours' (DD) Aramids unit, Bloomberg reported. Goldman shares were up 0.8%.

Barclays (BCS) is owed about 500 million British pounds ($668.8 million) by companies associated with collapsed UK mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions, Bloomberg reported. Barclays shares added 1%.

CME (CME) shares fell 1.8% after Argus downgraded the derivatives marketplace's stock to hold from buy.