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In This Turmoil, Investing in REITs Could Be The Safe Bet.
The Coronavirus has everyone on edge and the impacts of this fear have hit the stock market hard. Trading was halted on Sunday, March 8th, because the S&P 500 dropped by 7% just 15 minutes after the market opened.
The S&P 500 is the index that tracks the stocks of 500 large-cap U.S. companies. On this list are companies like Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook. In moments of serious turmoil, the prices of these kinds of stocks can drop because investors are spooked and they decide it’s in their best interest to sell a bunch of their shares. Because there is only a limited supply of shares available for sale, investors must compete with one another for access to shares. But, if no one is interested in buying and everyone wants to sell, there are more shares available and the price per share goes down.
So stock prices are down because no one wants to buy right now and a lot of people want to sell. That’s easy enough to understand, but why are investors dumping these kinds of stocks and what do they recommend buying instead?
To answer the first part of the question, we have to look at what impacts the Coronavirus is having in the real world. People aren’t flying and their not driving either as employers and schools are telling people to stay home. This is affecting oil prices because…
