MORE HEADLINES
Economic Update
The unemployment rate increased to 9.9% in April, up from 9.7% in March.
Domestic Equity
U.S. equities posted positive returns in April, with the Russell 3000 Index returning 2.2%.
International Equity
International equity market returns were mixed in April.
Fixed Income
The Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index (BCAG) returned 1.0% in April.
Real Estate Securities
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) outperformed the broad equity market in April.
Hedge Funds
Hedge fund managers realized positive performance during a volatile April.
THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT AND OPPORTUNITIES IN REAL ESTATE
Since the second half of 2009, the economy has been slowly recovering driven by massive government stimulus, an improving credit market, and stabilizing employment numbers. This environment has provided stimulus for the global equities, bond, and real estate markets. Even with the ongoing challenges with several of the European economies, we believe that the U.S. economy should continue its cyclical recovery. The private real estate market, in particular, has finally bottomed and we think that now is the time to commit capital to private real estate and consider taking some of the gains earned by public real estate investment trusts (REITs).
