• U.S. equity markets rallied for the second straight day, recovering much of last week's losses related to the coronavirus outbreak as investor attention turns, perhaps temporarily, to earnings season.
• The S&P 500 finished higher by 1.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added more than 400 points. The 10-Year Treasury Yield added 9 basis points to close at 1.60%.
• The broad-based commercial Real Estate ETF (VNQ) finished higher by 1.0%, led by the beaten-down mall REIT sector following decent earnings results from Simon and rumors of forthcoming mall mergers.
• Bloomberg reported that fellow mall REIT Taubman, which holds a similarly high-quality portfolio, has held merger talks with Simon Property Group. TCO has jumped nearly 20% from its ten-year lows last week.
• This news follows reports yesterday that bankrupt mall-based retailer Forever 21 will be purchased by a consortium that includes mall REITs Simon Property (SPG) and Brookfield Properties (BPR) in a fairly unprecedented move for these retail landlords.

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