Merger Madness Continues [Daily Recap]

• U.S. equity markets climbed to new record-highs on Wednesday on a busy day of corporate earnings, clawing back all of the coronavirus-related losses from earlier this month.

• The S&P 500 finished higher by 0.7% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained nearly 100 points. The 10-Year Treasury Yield climbed another 4 basis points to close at 1.63%.

• The broad-based commercial Real Estate ETF (VNQ) gained 0.5%, led by the timber, prison, and cell tower REIT sectors. Mall REITs lagged for the second-straight day as merger optimism fades.

• Merger madness continued in the REIT space as data center REIT CyrusOne (CONE) reportedly retained Morgan Stanley after receiving M&A interest in a deal that could involve Blackstone, KKR, or Stonepeak.

• It's also one of the busiest days of earnings season in the commercial real estate sector with more than a dozen REITs reporting. Results so far have been generally better-than-expected.

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