REITs Become Separate Sector in September
July, 2016 GMT | Daily Forex
Between September 16th and 19th, a new sector will be introduced on Wall Street. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) which own commercial real estate and generate dividends from the rents that are levied, will be split off from all other financial stocks where they have been listed alongside banks and insurers since 1999 when these sectors were created. REITS will become the 11th sector of the S&P 500, joining technology, health care, utilities and others.
Publicly traded real estate investment trusts are companies that own real estate but whose shares trade on an exchange like a stock and the new sector can put pressure on financial stocks as they have been one of the few successes on Wall Street this past year, helping to limit declines in the overall financial sector.
The MSCI U.S. REIT index, which tracks real-estate investment trusts, is up 6.7% in 2016 as opposed to financials that have been the third-biggest straggler in the S&P 500 during the same period, following health care and technology stocks and shedding more than 3% in 2016 versus the broader market’s 1% gain.
