By Kristena Hansen | Phoenix Business Journal
Phoenix-based Cole Real Estate Investments Inc. began its first day of trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, marking one of biggest milestone in the company’s 34-year history.
Unfortunately for Cole, today was probably the worst day of the year to launch an initial public offering. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 353 points, or 2.3 percent — the biggest drop in more than seven months — as traders still were skittish over Wednesday’s news that the Federal Reserve may pull back on its bond-buying program later this year.
Since that announcement on Wednesday, the Dow has lost 560 points total.
For the real estate investment trust industry, of which Cole is a member, the drop was worse. The Bloomberg REIT Index recorded its worst two-day decline since October 2011, after falling 4.2 percent today and 3 percent on Wednesday, according to a Bloomberg article.
