VNQ’s increase is all the more striking when you consider that the rest of the field below US equities has suffered mediocre-to-negative results over the past year.

US REITs (VNQ) are in the lead with a 13.5% total return, based on the trailing 250 trading-day period (the rough equivalent of a one-year return).

The over-publicized departure of Bill Gross from the fixed income goliath he founded roughly 30 years ago has brought about some interesting crosscurrents in recent fund-flow statistics.

The fallout from Bill Gross leaving PIMCO for Janus Capital Group has continued to spread through the financial community and ultimately generated a review from Morningstar of their flagship fund’s rating.

Volatility is starting to creep back into the markets. It’s not obvious from the 30,000-foot view, but a few corners of the global markets are becoming jittery.

Worrying about risk witnessed a revival last week amid a mix of heightened concerns on geopolitical and economic fronts.