Financial Sector High Today; Led By Real Estate Stocks

Real estate stocks led the uptrend in the financial sector today, as Fed chief Bernanke gave positive comments on the economy and investors looked forward to the Fed's Beige Book report’s release.

The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE: XLF) was up 0.49%, after it rose 2.1% yesterday.

Today, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that economic recovery has reached a point where it will not miss a step when fiscal tightening measures are implemented in the future.

Within the financial stocks in the S&P 500, real estate investment trusts performed the best. By 11:49 am, CB Richard Ellis Group Inc (NYSE: CBG) climbed 6.24%, AvalonBay Communities Inc (NYSE: AVB) surged 5.49%, Apartment Investment & Management Company (AIV) rallied 5.29% and ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) gained 4.56%. Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) also soared 4.3%.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services released an optimistic report on REITs today. "While we anticipate gradual, yet choppy improvement in the single-family for-sale market, recent market data suggest that operating fundamentals among public REITs have bottomed and that this area may turn the corner quicker than we expected," said S&P.

Shares of the private-equity firm and asset manager American Capital Ltd (NASDAQ: ACAS) advanced 12.21% to $4.87 by 11:55 am today. ACAS has extended the voting deadline for soliciting votes on a standby plan of reorganization.

On the other hand, the bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc (NYSE: ABK) plunged 33.63% to $0.71. Late yesterday, ABK said that it has "insufficient capital to finance its debt service and operating expense requirements beyond the second quarter of 2011 and may need to seek bankruptcy protection."

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