Financial stocks reversed direction during afternoon trading, with the NYSE Financial Index dropping 0.4% while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF) was off 0.1%. The yield for 10-year US Treasuries, meanwhile, was climbing 6.5 basis points to 1.848%.In company news, Exela Technologies (XELA) was riding a 17% gain in heavy volume after the transactions processor said it would provide investors with up to $100 million of its unsecured 6% senior notes maturing in March 2029 in exchange for an equal amount of their common shares.