A Fragile Facade
U.S. equity markets climbed to fresh record-highs during the Independence Day week, while interest rates fell sharply after a critical slate of employment data showed evidence of cooling labor markets. Traders monitored the continued fallout from the prior week's lopsided debate, reflecting an increased probability that President Biden will step aside ahead of the November elections. Narrow market breadth - notably, the outperformance of large-cap equities over small-caps - remained a theme this week, as it has since the start of the Fed's rate hiking cycle.
Junk bonds are beating the broader market so far in 2024 — but watch this shift
Junk bonds are beating the broader U.S. fixed-income market so far in 2024 — but pummeled Treasurys have attempted a comeback lately.
An Active ETF to Consider After May Saw More Bond Fund Inflows
The month of May served as a reminder to get core bond exposure. That's because funds focused on the debt market saw increased inflows after April's outflows, resuming the positive trend.
A Critical Cooldown
U.S. equity markets posted a mixed performance this week, while benchmark interest rates dipped to two-month lows after a critical slate of inflation data showed an encouraging cooldown in price pressures. As expected, the Fed held rates steady at two-decade highs of 5.50%, but the committee's "dot plots" showed that the FOMC is now penciling in just one rate-cut in 2024. Posting a series of record highs throughout the week, the S&P 500 advanced another 1.6% to extend its year-to-date total returns to over 15%, but the gains were notably top-heavy.
State Of REIT Nation: Waiting At The Bottom
REITweek, the annual REIT industry conference, was held last week in New York City. Humbled by two years of rate-driven headwinds, the venue halls were as quiet as any REITweek. Excitement was muted after numerous "false starts" on the long-awaited Fed pivot, a dearth of IPO and M&A activity, and a two-year period of significant underperformance versus the broader market. It can only get better: since the start of the Fed's rate hike cycle in March 2022, the REIT Index has underperformed the S&P 500 by a whopping 40 percentage-points.
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