Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of retailer Dillard's (NYSE: DDS) shot up as much as 19% in intraday trading after the company announced that it will be creating a REIT subsidiary.

So what: And you thought "real estate" was a bad word these days. Real estate investment trusts have thundered back to life, with some, like CBL & Associates (NYSE: CBL), delivering 50% or better gains over the past year alone. Evidently, Dillard's has taken notice of investors' interest in REITs, seeing a REIT subsidiary as a good way to access both debt and equity markets. The news also boosted other retailers that own a good deal of real estate, such as Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD), which climbed more than 5%.

Now what: While the Dillard's announcement obviously had some serious punch to it, it wasn't exactly long on details. However, the basic outline is that Dillard's will transfer its real estate assets into the new REIT and then lease the properties back to the operators on "triple net" leases. This seems like a pretty savvy move by Dillard's management to realize the value in its real estate holdings, so there may be good reason to stay tuned to the Dillard's story.

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