For the third straight day, the REIT ETFs (VNQ and IYR) ended the day higher by nearly 1% led by the hotel, industrial, and shopping center sectors. Notable REIT earnings today included apartment REITs Essex (ESS) and Mid-America (MAA) and industrial REIT Duke Realty (DRE). REITs pushed their YTD gains to more than 10% while Homebuilders have rallied more than 11%.

The Homebuilder ETFs (XHB and ITB) finished up by more than 1% led by >2% gains from DR Horton (DHI) and Tri Pointe (TPH). The Home Improvement Retail sector was higher by nearly 2% on strength from Home Depot (HD) and Lowes (LOW). The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) ended the day up 1.6% while the Nasdaq ETF (QQQ) ended up 2.5%.