FRI News and Press, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund From 09/27/22

Summary The REIT crash is largely related to rapidly rising interest rates. Market pundits have a variety of theories suggesting REITs are susceptible to interest rates. We examine them to see which are true and which are bogus. I have long pondered the impact of ris...

Summary Powell’s speech last Wednesday raised recession fears. The Atlanta Fed revised its third-quarter GDP estimate down to a +0.3% annual pace, down from its previous estimate of a +0.5% annual pace. U.S. interest rates also shot up in response to the Fed Chair’s ...

Summary Most of your money market or high yield options will cost you 0.1% in expense ratio and get about half of what T-Bills are earning. Mortgage rates are about to jump over the 7% mark. Which is crazy because, when rates were at 5% early this year, I outlined why I had become...

Summary Stocks are now back down to the lows set in June and sentiment is as negative now as it was then. There is a long list of technical items that have hit levels or rates of change we associate with bottoms, short- or long-term. The economic data last week was mostly abou...

Summary U.S. equity and bond markets plunged to the lowest levels of the year this past week after the Federal Reserve reiterated that further economic "pain" was necessary to cool inflation. Declining in five of the past six weeks and effectively erasing all of the benchmark's ga...

Summary Powell reiterates commitment to restoring price stability. ECB plans to continue rate hikes despite growth slowdown. How rising rates are impacting the U.S. housing market. On the latest edition of Market Week in Review, Chief Investment Strategist Erik Ristu...

Summary Industrial REITs- a perennial performance leader since 2015- have been slammed this year despite delivering stellar operating performance with demand for well-located logistics space continuing to outstrip supply. Just as valuations were recovering from the Amazon-related ...

Summary By mid-August, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was at 5%, down sharply from the 6%-range in mid-June. Yesterday, they were at 6.47%. Briefly dropping mortgage rates slowed down the decline in home sales - sales declined again in August from July but at a slower rat...

Summary The U.S. housing market is emerging from a period of price inflation not seen since the run-up to the global financial crisis. With the dynamics of the housing market shifting, it’s tempting to harken back to the global financial crisis, when subprime mortgages and ...

Summary Housing starts data notwithstanding, here’s why we think the US housing market deterioration will have a downside acceleration following what has been a surge in valuations. Spreads are widening while rates are rising. The results are simple. Housing may be in t...