Well, the Fed hasn't begun dropping interest rates yet, instead keeping the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged for the fourth straight meeting when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met on Jan. 24.

That's still good news for the stock market in general, which rallied into a bull market when the Fed began indicating last fall that rate cuts were coming, as many as four in 2024 alone. But the FOMC is not declaring victory yet in its war on inflation, and it didn't make any promises on when the cuts would begin, and that has helped to leave one particular sector behind: real estate investment trusts.

Since the Fed meeting on Jan. 24, the S&P 500 has risen another 1.4% or so, while the CRSP US REIT Index has fallen by about 0.7%. That adds to the lag that publicly traded REITs have seen since the current bull began in October, as seen below.

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Source Fool.com