Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan off 20% in tough May
 

In Thursday�s trading, the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF XLF +0.87% rose 0.7%, a modest bounceback from Wednesday�s steep decline. The ETF, which tracks the financials in the S&P 500 index and is a simple way for investors to get access to a big basket of the nation�s largest financial-services companies, is off about 10% in May.

The broad market had a rough month, but some of the financial firms with outsize May losses are perceived by investors to have brought the trouble on themselves.