Financial stocks rose in late Tuesday afternoon trading with the NYSE Financial Index up 0.2% and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) adding 0.4%.

The Philadelphia Housing Index shed 0.5%, while the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) fell 1%.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell 0.4% to $87,910.7, and the yield for 10-year US Treasuries shed 2.2 basis points to 4.31%.

In economic news, the Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 92.9 in March from 100.1 in February, below 94.0 expected in a survey compiled by Bloomberg and the fourth straight decline.

In corporate news, Brown & Brown (BRO) faces limited near-term upside relative to peers amid macro uncertainties, Morgan Stanley said in a note. Morgan Stanley downgraded Brown & Brown to equalweight from overweight with a price target of $128. Brown & Brown shares were fractionally lower.

Ally Financial (ALLY) shares were down 0.9% after BTIG downgraded the company to sell from neutral, with a $30 price target.

HSBC (HSBC) plans to boost investment banking operations in Asia and the Middle East following its exit from Europe and the US, Bloomberg reported, citing an interview with Chief Executive Georges Elhedery. Separately, HSBC may outsource parts of its fixed-income trading order flow to an outside market maker to save costs and compete with bigger rivals, Bloomberg reported. HSBC shares were rising 0.7%.

Alphabet's (GOOG) Google Cloud and CME (CME) said they will launch services related to wholesale payments and tokenization of assets using the Google Cloud Universal Ledger. CME shares were shedding 0.1%.