Dividend Boost | Vaccine Approval | Fresh Records

Summary

• U.S. equity markets advanced Wednesday as signs of progress on stimulus talks and the first regulatory approval of a coronavirus vaccine in the U.K. lifted the major averages to fresh record-highs.
• Pushing its gains to roughly 1% this week, the S&P 500 gained 0.2% today while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained another 60 points. Energy stocks led the gains.
• After leading the gains yesterday, real estate equities were laggards today as the broad-based Equity REIT ETF declined by 0.8% today with 9 of the 18 property sectors in negative territory.
• Following a quiet few weeks of REIT-related newsflow, we are entering "dividend declaration season" which should be especially interesting this quarter following the wave of dividend cuts earlier this year.
• Net lease REIT Agree Realty (ADC) boosted its dividend for the second time this year. ADC is one of 41 equity REITs that have increased their dividend this year compared to 66 that have cut or suspended.

Real Estate Daily Recap

U.S. equity markets advanced Wednesday as signs of progress on the stalled stimulus talks and the first regulatory approval of a coronavirus vaccine in the U.K. lifted the major averages to fresh record-highs. Pushing its gains to roughly 1% this week, the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) gained 0.2% today while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) gained another 60 points and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) advanced 0.1%. After leading the gains yesterday, real estate equities were laggards today as the broad-based Equity REIT ETF (VNQ) declined by 0.8% today with 9 of the 18 property sectors in negative territory while the Mortgage REIT ETF (REM) gained 1.3%.

The wave of positive vaccine news continued this morning as the UK became the first western nation to approve a coronavirus vaccine after authorizing Pfizer's (PFE) vaccine for emergency use and plans to initiate vaccinations within days. The positive news was offset by modestly disappointing employment data from the ADP as hiring slowed to the slowest rate since July. 6 of the 11 GICS equity sectors finished in positive territory today, led by the Energy (XLE), Financials (XLF), and Communications (XLC) sectors.

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Disclosure: A complete list of holdings and Real Estate and Housing Index definitions and holdings are available at HoyaCapital.com. Hoya Capital Real Estate advises an Exchange Traded Fund listed on the NYSE. Hoya Capital is long all components in the Hoya Capital Housing 100 Index.

Additional Disclosure: It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Index performance cited in this commentary does not reflect the performance of any fund or other account managed or serviced by Hoya Capital Real Estate. Data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Information presented is believed to be factual and up-to-date, but we do not guarantee its accuracy.