Assuming economic conditions warrant it, the Federal Reserve indicated it will raise its benchmark rate in the near future, possibly at its next meeting in June, according to minutes from the last policy meeting. The Fed also came to an agreement on the mechanics of unwinding its $4.5 trillion in Treasury and mortgage securities holdings.
Rules enacted in the wake of the financial crisis have made buying and selling bonds more difficult, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. "We find that post-crisis regulation has had an adverse impact on bond-level liquidity," Fed economists wrote in a blog post.
Several retail REITs are recovering from the bout of retail closings and may even be undervalued now, while the fundamentals remain strong in the sector, says Calvin Schnure, a senior vice president at NAREIT. "They have been underperforming the S&P 500, but there's still opportunity," he says.
Office REIT NorthStar Realty Europe and China Resources Land are acquiring, via a joint venture, a trophy office building in London for $390 million. NorthStar is providing $34 million in preferred equity in the deal.
Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV has acquired two medical office buildings in Athens, Ga., that are about 61,000 square feet and primarily leased to St. Mary's Health Care System. Over the past year, the REIT has acquired a portfolio of 16 medical office buildings and senior housing facilities for approximately $229 million.
Amazon will open its seventh bookstore and its first in New York City today, in the middle of Manhattan's publishing district. The 4,000-square-foot store in Columbus Circle sits near the site of a former Borders store and close to the headquarters of three high-profile publishing houses.
Sears reported first-quarter net income of $244 million, its first quarterly profit in almost two years, as a result of store closings, staff reductions and other cost-cutting measures. Same-store sales at Sears and Kmart locations fell 12.4% and 11.2%, respectively.
One of the top US lumber producers today, Potlatch Corp. was founded in 1903 in north-central Idaho, became a REIT in 2006 and now owns 1.4 million acres of timberland across five states. The company has made opportunistic acquisitions in recent years but is facing the same challenge that all timberland REITs are, says Steve Chercover, senior research analyst with D.A. Davidson: "The space is pretty mature and fair valued."
The House's American Health Care Act now being reviewed by the Senate would leave 23 million more US residents without insurance by 2026 than would be under existing law, though allowing states to opt out of mandating essential benefits coverage would encourage some employers to continue offering coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office. If adopted as-is by the Senate, the AHCA would reduce the federal deficit by $119 billion by 2026, and though premiums for some consumers would be lower than they are now, they would be higher for people with existing health conditions, the CBO said.
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