REIT stocks suffer broad weakness despite drop in 10-year Treasury yield to record low

Shares of real estate investment trusts (REITs) suffered a broad selloff in afternoon trading Tuesday, despite another tumble in the 10-year Treasury yield to a record low. REITs tend to outperform when Treasurys rally and yields fall, as their relatively high dividend yields make them more attractive in a lower yield environment, and their usual relative price stability makes tends to make them attractive in a volatile market environment. The SPDR Real Estate Select Sector ETF dropped 2.4%, with 30 of 31 components losing ground, just a little better than the S&P 500's 2.8% decline. The REIT ETF's yield is 2.93% while the implied yield for the S&P 500 is 1.94%. Meanwhile, the 10-year Treasury yield fell 6.0 basis points to a record low of 1.317%. Within the REIT sector tracker, the biggest loser and most active stock was Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. , which slumped 5.8%. Among other more-active components, shares of Ventas Inc. declined 5.3%, Digital Realty Trust Inc. slipped 0.2% and Simon Property Group Inc. gave up 3.7%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.