
Alex Pettee, CFA
March Madness: Hope Emerges After Punishing Week For REITs
Limit down, limit up. The ongoing coronavirus crisis roiled global markets on a historically volatile week that marked the end to the nearly decade-long post-recession bull market for U.S. equities.
Kicked-off with a historic crash in crude oil prices and ending with a furious late-Friday afternoon rally, the S&P 500 finished the week lower by more than 9%.
There were few places to hide as tremors of instability shook the global financial markets. The previously outperforming REITs ended the week off by nearly 12% while homebuilders dipped 25%.
Darkest before the dawn? Policymakers, central banks, and private businesses sprung to action to ease the economic fallout from the transitory shutdown of large swaths of the global economy.
Encouraging indications emerged from South Korea and China which have seen a dramatic decline in new CV-19 cases and a gradual return to normalcy within weeks of the outbreak’s peak.
