FRI News and Press, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund From 06/22/22

The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index's preliminary estimate for June plunged to a record low. The good news from all this bad news is that “contrarian theory” says that when sentiment reaches such historic lows, the only way it can go is up. T...

Sales of existing homes decreased 3.4 percent in May, to a 5.41 million seasonally adjusted annual rate. Condo and co-op sales were down in one region in May, falling 3.4 percent in the South, and were unchanged in the other three regions. Housing is likely to be under intense pre...

WSR generates strong FFO and recorded an average yield in excess of 8 percent during the last decade. WSR benefited from its focus on high-quality open-air commercial centers located in neighborhoods of high disposable income MSAs. Macroeconomic conditions and the looming recessio...

Farmland Partners Inc. owns farmland in the U.S., which has historically proven to be a good diversifier for any portfolio. After years of stagnation, farmland prices recently started to take off. This might mark the start of a new upcycle. FPI trades at around NAV, which means in...

The Federal Reserve panicked last week and spooked investors into the worst week for stocks since the onset of COVID in March 2020. For bonds to rally, we need rates to fall and that will only come with better inflation news and/or weaker economic data. It is a very uncertain time...

The sell-off deepened across U.S. equity markets this week after the Fed announced aggressive measures to combat persistent inflation, sending equities plunging to their lowest levels since the initial vaccine approvals. Now having declined in ten of the past eleven weeks, the S&P...

Over the past two years, the housing industry has benefited from the pandemic and a favorable economic backdrop driven by consumers with geographical flexibility, low-interest rates, and a strong job market. The housing tailwinds seen during the pandemic provided a strong operating en...

Total housing starts fell to a 1.549 million annual rate in May from a 1.810 million pace in April, a 14.4 percent plunge. All three components of the Housing Market Index fell again in May. Pressure on housing demand combined with elevated input costs is sending homebuilder senti...

AIER’s Leading Indicators Index returned to a neutral 50 reading in May, rising four points following an eight-point fall in April. While broad trends and risks continue, there are some signs of inflection in a few areas. The Roughly Coincident Indicators index fell back in...

The REIT sector has fallen in 4 of the first 5 months of 2022, including a -3.51% total return in May. Small cap (-2.26%) and mid cap (-3.46%) REITs outperformed, while large caps (-4.48%) and micro caps (-5.82%) saw deeper losses in May. Only 31.18% of REIT securities had a posit...