With stock prices of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley both outperforming the S&P 500 handily on optimism in the banking sector, HSBC analyst Saul Martinez downgraded shares of both financial firms to neutral from buy.
The number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits in the week before the Thanksgiving holiday dipped to a seven-month low in a sign of strength for a steadily expanding U.S. economy.