Real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the US shot up last week, posting the biggest gain among the major asset classes, based on a set of proxy ETFs. The gain marks the strongest weekly advance for the sector since September.
The Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ) climbed 4.0% over the five trading days through Dec. 9. The strong gain surprised some investors, given that REITs tend to be yield-sensitive investments and interest rates have been rising lately. The 10-year Treasury rate on Friday reached its highest level (2.47%) since last June, based on daily numbers via Treasury.gov. But some analysts advise that REITs can do well in a rising interest rate environment if economic growth is picking up, which has become the prevailing narrative after Donald Trump's election victory last month.
Bonds, however, haven't been invited to the party. All of last week's losers were confined to fixed-income funds. The biggest… Read More …