Key Takeaways

• Both headline and core consumer prices rose 0.3% from a month ago, slightly slower than the pace the previous few months.

• The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report gave us some good signs that services inflation is easing. But in a separate report, the control group of retail sales — the category which feeds into the gross domestic product (GDP) calculations — fell 0.3% in April, suggesting consumer spending downshifted at the start of the second quarter.

• Grocery prices fell in April, giving some relief, especially for those buying meat, fruits, and vegetables.

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In today’s blog, we examine the real estate sector, specifically commercial real estate, analyze the performance and valuations for the different industries within the sector, and assess their prospects.  

What is Commercial Real Estate? 

Real estate can be divided into two segments: residential and commercial. Residential real estate is largely comprised of single-family homes and condominiums, while commercial real estate is comprised of properties purchased for business use, such as: office, retail, industrial, and multi-family housing.  

State of the Commercial Real Estate Sect

It seems like we just can’t stop talking about the Federal Reserve (Fed). After an aggressive rate hiking campaign that we think ended last year, markets were expecting the Fed to start cutting interest rates as early as next month. But with an economy that continues to surprise to the upside, along with inflationary pressures that are still too hot, it seems it will still be a few months before we get any of those rate cuts.

And the bond market may have finally taken the hint. After numerous attempts to “front-run” rate cuts in 2024, the bond market is now taking a less aggressive stance on cuts than even the Fed has sug

Event-Driven strategies take long and short positions in equities, bonds, and their derivatives based on corporate events such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), spin-offs, management restructuring, and special situations such as bankruptcies. Merger arbitrage is the most familiar example of Event-Driven investing, however, distressed and activism are also common investment strategies — albeit those that involve a longer investment time horizon and more active involvement on the part of an investment firm. 

A straightforward merger arbitrage investment would involve buying a target company’s stock following t