Barry Ritholtz, Columnist

The Contrarian Signal in the REIT Breakout

Real estate investment trusts just got their own industry group in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. It may represent a high-water mark for the sector.

September 19, 2016 at 3:09 PM UTC

By Barry Ritholtz

Barry Ritholtz is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

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Photographer: John Greim/lightrocket/getty images

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For the first time since 1999, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index is being reconfigured. The last time was when technology was established as an independent sector.

The current reconstitution of the S&P 500 involves breaking out real estate investment trusts (REITs) from the financial industry group. This is worth paying attention to, given how rarely these sorts of structural changes occur.