FRI News and Press, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund From 11/14/22

Summary As a result of higher mortgage rates, an oversupply of housing and falling demand, the downturn in the housing market is only just getting started. Given the housing markets are important to economic growth, this will continue to be a significant drag on the business cycle...

Summary The Federal Reserve's aggressive push higher in the Fed Funds rate has resulted in mortgage interest rates following suit and rapidly moving higher as well. One factor that might insulate home prices from declining significantly is the lack of supply of existing homes avai...

Summary U.S. equity markets posted their best weekly gains since June as cooler-than-expected inflation data, election results suggesting "fiscal gridlock" in DC, and limited China re-openings raised hopes of peaking inflation. Climbing back out of "bear market" territory, the S&a...

Summary Why the declines in tech on the S&P 500 may be hiding strength in other sectors from investors. The energy sector may still provide opportunities for investors. Insurers are not suffering the same challenges as other financials in the current high-rate environment....

Summary Nearly 200 REITs and a dozen homebuilders have reported third-quarter earnings results over the past three weeks, providing critical information on the state of the U.S. real estate industry. REIT earnings season was surprisingly strong across nearly all property sectors. ...

Summary High-quality REITs with steady cash flows can be a bulwark against volatility - better yet, they’re trading at attractive discounts relative to stocks. REITs own hard assets that can produce steadier cash flows during cyclical downturns and provide additional inflat...

Summary Almost half of the option contracts being traded on the S&P 500, to the tune of $300 billion of notional each day, have one-day expiries or less. Across all listed ETFs and indices, an astounding $1 trillion of notional value in put options (bets that an index or ETF w...

Summary The fact that pension funds have allocated significant member capital to this madness reveals a dereliction of duty and the speculative madness that was. From March 2020 through March 2022, some 40% of purchases in Canada and the US were bought as second homes for investme...

Summary Pressured by the broader housing cooldown, Apartment REITs have been among the weaker-performing property sectors over the past quarter despite achieving record-setting rent growth throughout the summer. While the era of 20% rent increases on new leases is over, there rema...

Summary Mortgage rates have not been this high since before the housing crisis. And while the housing market is slowing, prices are still high. Demand for homes may be softening, but until there is more supply on the market, prices may hold up somewhat. By Allison ...