FRI News and Press, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund From 01/10/23

Summary The U.S. new home market enters 2023 in distress. Political Calculations' initial estimate of the market capitalization of new homes for November 2022, the data for which was released just before the holidays, is $25.35 billion. This time-shifted, trailing-year average is 15...

Summary On a coincident basis, driven by a historically tight labour market and robust industrial production growth, the US economy remains deceptively strong despite negative real incomes and tight financial conditions. However, the leading indicators of the business cycle continue to ...

Company reiterates fiscal year 2023 guidance with adjustment for Siron transition. Veteran FICO financial executive Steve Weber appointed interim CFO. Global analytics software company FICO announced today that Steve Weber has been appointed the company’s interim chie...

Summary U.S. equity markets rallied on the first week of the year after employment data showed strong job growth alongside a cool down in wage pressures, reviving hopes of a 'soft landing'. After posting declines of nearly 20% in 2022, the S&P 500 advanced 1.5% on the week- snapping...

Summary Whether viewed by home sales (demand) or housing starts (supply), the US housing market downshifted significantly during 2022. Low mortgage rates, combined with a spurt in economic growth and the ability of many workers to do their jobs remotely, pushed housing demand up sharply...

Summary We expect COVID-19 to continue its transition to a global endemic and the status quo to prevail in Russia's war in Ukraine, with no material implications for the global economy. Mild recessions are forecast in the United States and Europe, but resilience in Asia Pacific will pre...

FICO event on 8 February will gather industry experts to discuss what must be done across the payments ecosystem to stem losses from fraud scams In 2021, UK losses to authorised push payment (APP) scams reached £583.2 million. This 39 percent year-on-year increase in losses shows h...

Summary Inflation and corresponding central banking policies will be the two most important signals for investors to focus on. Three scenarios for the global economy: Rolling recessions, hard landing, or immaculate disinflation. As we enter 2023, commercial real estate will experien...

Summary Global central banks have raised interest rates to grapple with reemergent inflation, causing bond and equity valuations to decline in synchrony. An investor can gain exposure to real estate through publicly traded REIT products or via open-end or closed-end private equity funds...

Summary I expect traditional fossil fuel energy companies to continue to excel, rising to up to 30% of the S&P 500 in the upcoming years as technology stocks continue to shrink. After the most aggressive series of rate hikes in decades, inflation is finally moderating. Whether or no...