A bellwether stock is defined as one that is believed to be a leading indicator of the direction of the economy, sector or market. When bellwether stocks post earnings, it's often a good bet that the rest of the sector will probably report similar earnings. After the bellwether reports earnings, other stocks of that sector will often rise or fall "in sympathy" with the bellwether. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) have several subsectors, and each one has at least one bellwether stock. Sever