More Stimulus • Dividend Boosts • Jobless Claims Jump

January 14, 2021 | Hoya Capital

More Stimulus • Dividend Boosts • Jobless Claims Jump Daily Recap Jan 14 Written By Summary U.S. equity markets finished mostly lower Thursday as investors awaited details on the stimulus plan from President-Elect Biden as employment data this morning showed continued choppiness in the economic recovery. Now lower by 0.7% on the week, the S&P 500 finished off by 0.4% today while the Dow declined by 69 points. Mid-Caps gained 1.0% while Small-Caps jumped 2.2%.

Real estate equities outperformed for the second-straight day - led by the most beaten-down sectors of 2020. The Equity REIT ETF finished higher by 0.6% with 10-of-19 sectors in positive-territory. Tanger Outlets (SKT) jumped 9.6% after announcing that it will resume its suspended dividend at a rate of $0.1775/share dividend, which is roughly half of its prior pre-pandemic rate of $0.36 per share. Tanger remains one of the worst-performing REITs of the past five years.

Initial Jobless Claims jumped to the highest level since August at 965k after showing signs of improvement in the prior three weeks. Driving this increase, the recently-enacted stimulus program provides an additional $300 per week in enhanced unemployment payments on top of state benefits. Real Estate Daily Recap U.S. equity markets finished mostly lower Thursday as investors awaited details on a fresh stimulus plan from President-Elect Biden as employment data this morning showed continued choppiness in the economic recovery.

Now lower by 0.7% on the week, the S&P 500 ETF ( SPY ) finished off by 0.4% today while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ( DIA ) declined by 69 points. Real estate equities outperformed for the second-straight day - led by the most beaten-down sectors of 2020 - as the broad-based Equity REIT ETF ( VNQ ) finished higher by 0.6% with 10 of 19 property sectors in positive territory while the Mortgage REIT ETF ( REM ) finished higher by 0.9%.

While the large-cap indexes were under pressure, ...