FRI News and Press, First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund From 08/04/22

Rithm Capital still trades at a wide book value discount. The company recently completed internalization. The dividend is well-covered by Rithm's distributable earnings. Rithm Capital Corp. ( RITM ), formerly known as New Residential Investment Corporation, repor...

It's not every day that I get to crack open a REIT based in North Carolina. In Q2-22, Highwoods reported a strong beat and doubled down on the sunbelt. I'm rooting for two things in the state of North Carolina: basketball (go Tar Heels!) and Highwoods Properties. This ...

The relative affordability of new homes in the U.S. unexpectedly improved in June 2022. In terms of raw affordability, the ratio of median household income to the median new home sale price in the U.S. held steady near its record low level of 17.4% in June 2022. Expanding the numb...

The Bitcoin variety, I don't think it will live. I think, we have two significant government agencies which will make sure it's going to die. At the beginning of this year, a lot of people spoke about the Fed put as something that was going to support markets, equity markets, obviousl...

The second quarter was dominated by negative market sentiment amid worries over skyrocketing inflation and the risks of a global recession. The broad market selloff over the past few months led almost all markets to finish the second quarter with negative returns in U.S. dollars and l...

Last Thursday, the Commerce Department announced its preliminary estimate for second-quarter GDP growth at an annualized decline of -0.9%, which marks two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth. The Commerce Department announced on Wednesday that durable goods orders increased a ...

Fueled by easy monetary policies and fiscal stimulus post-COVID, housing markets in many developed countries have recorded double-digit appreciation rates. Mortgage rates in the U.S. have almost doubled, rising by roughly 300 basis points since their low in February 2021. Based on...

The dominant force in the markets this year has been uncertainty. REITs have not been spared from the market turbulence, but we see the long-term value proposition for REITs at one of the most attractive levels in recent memory. REITs provide predictability amid an ambiguous econo...

Inventories have risen recently and there has been a lot of commentary about how this will negatively impact the economy. My brief overview of markets is that large growth stocks are still overvalued even as they led the recent rally. The sentiment about the economy is still quite...

We're approaching the halfway point of another newsworthy real estate earnings season with roughly 55 equity REITs representing 50% of the total market capitalization having reported results. Among the 43 REITs that have provided full-year Funds From Operations ("FFO") guidance, 30 RE...