FRI News and Press, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund From 10/13/22

Summary Home prices and rents will decline in the next year, on average, though different parts of the country will experience somewhat differing paths. In the aggregate, housing prices will decline for both homeowners and tenants. Before getting too glum, though, homeowners s...

Summary Cell Tower REITs have been slammed harder than any property sector over the past three months, weighed down by tech-related weakness and disruptive threats to the long-term competitive positioning. Concerns over emerging - and potentially competing - satellite technologies...

Summary Financial markets are highly liquid and far from breaking down. Since a strong economy is going to be tough to come by these days, high real rates confirm that money is very tight. The interest cost of our federal debt is less than 3% of GDP, and that's relatively low ...

Summary Are October rallies just bear traps in disguise? When will we see a turn in inflation? How to navigate bear markets. September was a brutal month for equities. Could markets strengthen this fall or are rallies just bear traps in disguise? Kim Parlee t...

Summary In recent months, the economy has shown remarkable resilience in the face of a cyclical downturn. As such, we remain in a situation where positive economic data (i.e. resilient Q3 corporate earnings) could be considered bearish as such an outcome will delay any hope of a dovis...

Summary With inflation having soared, the Fed has shifted in 2022 to withdrawing accommodation, raising rates, and shrinking its balance sheet. As for the U.S. real economy, rate hikes hit first through their direct impact on mortgage rates. Future housing construction is like...

Summary We maintain our intermediate-term bearish bias and think it makes sense to pursue short-term shorts, as well. Shorting stocks is a difficult and complicated proposition. Typical action would see oil back above $100 bbl pretty easily, with a run toward $120 certainly wi...

Summary Self-Storage REITs have defied expectations to the upside as comprehensively as any real estate sector since the start of the pandemic, delivering earnings growth of over 50% since 2019. Incremental storage demand is driven by change- particularly home moving rates and hou...

Summary Over the last two weeks Federal Reserve officials delivered 37 speeches, all of the speakers competing to see who could be the most hawkish. The big problem with the Fed’s plan to kill inflation by reducing economic growth and raising the unemployment rate is that t...

Summary U.S. equity markets snapped a three-week skid in another choppy week after employment data showed signs of softening in labor markets - but not enough to alter the Fed's aggressive tightening path. Bouncing off its lowest levels in over two years, the S&P 500 advanced ...