REIT Moves Rub Executives Wrong Way
As if life wasn’t tough enough for chief executives of real-estate companies struggling with the recession, they are also having to cope with price swings in their stocks, which normally are relatively stable.
That is making it harder for them to do deals, raise capital, attract institutional investors and compensate employees.
It is also getting their dander up about a likely culprit: a popular trading strategy involving leveraged funds that investors are using to ride the daily trend in certain market sectors.
“It’s a very alarming, very disconcerting impact on the stock,” Equity Residential Chief Executive David Neithercut says of the funds. “Maybe somebody’s making money, but I think it’s a real problem for our business.”