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STORY: U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, marking the end of a turbulent week as U.S. Federal Reserve officials calmed investor fears over a potential liquidity crisis in the banking sector.

The Dow climbed 4-tenths of one percent. The S&P 500 rose about half of a percent and the Nasdaq gained 3-tenths of a percent.

In separate appearances, three regional fed bank presidents said that their confidence in the banking system is what allowed them to stay focused on inflation and implement a 25 basis point rate hike on Wednesday.

But worries over potential contagion spreading from regional banks to their larger peers persisted, sparked by a sell-off of European bank shares.

That sell-off was prompted by the rising cost of insuring Deutsche Bank's debt, coming on the heels of the state-sponsored buyout of Credit Suisse.

U.S.-traded shares of Deutsche Bank dropped 3%.

“We continue to see weakness and stress in financials….”

Banríon Capital Management Founder and CEO Shana Sissel says we are starting to see more divergence in the performance of various sectors as the economy softens.

 “And we continue to see weakness and stress in cyclical areas. Areas that are doing well are things like utilities, staples, things of that nature. So you're seeing the market kind of bifurcate between things that should do OK as we see economic stress. Versus where the actual stress is."

Among other movers, Activision Blizzard jumped nearly 6-percent after the UK competition regulator dropped some competition concerns in the Microsoft-Activision deal.