Negative interest rates and falling rates in general are weighing heavy on the financial sectors both here and abroad. In the past week, European banks led to a tumble in the heavyweight financial sector as money center banks, investment brokerages, asset management companies and life insurance names all traded lower in sympathy. The U.S. financial sector is not faring much better, down 4.7 year-to-date, per the chart of the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), the most widely traded basket of financials.