Record Archived By Mel Miller, CFA®, Chief Economist|Download PDF The US economy enters July having achieved the longest economic expansion in history. The economy reversed the contraction that began in July of 2004, starting at the end of the second quarter of 2009. Many have criticized the slow pace of the recovery, but having positive quarterly […]
Download PDF Mixed signals: New Highs, Decelerating Earnings Growth, Stretched Valuations By Theresa Gusman US equities continue to hit new highs. The S&P 500 posted its best first half in 22 years, rising 18.5% through the end of June. Stock markets advanced worldwide, with developed and emerging international markets up 14.0% and 10.6%, respectively, year-to-date, […]
Finally: Significant Progress on Board Diversity By Holly TestaDownload the PDF First Affirmative has seen frustratingly slow, but nevertheless steady progress when it comes to board diversity. Of note this proxy season were our successful withdrawals of board diversity proposals at Masimo and Cambrex after both companies took steps to revise nominating committee guidelines and improve their search process […]
You’ve probably noticed that the First Affirmative team has been on the road quite a bit over the last few months as we co-present the 2019 Sustainable Investment Solutions (SIS) symposium series. Last week we were in Boston for yet another great SIS event. We’ve really seen attendance at these regional events ticking up. More […]
I was so encouraged when I attended the recent Sustainable Investment Solutions event in Washington DC on June 25 sponsored by a group of premier asset managers. With close to 60% of the room filled with advisors, 30% of whom were attending their first ever impact investing event, there was robust discussion, a lot of […]
The vibe: dynamic!The venue: nostalgic!The content: strong!The event: impactfully unconventional. These are the words that I use to describe my experience at the 2019 FPA NexGen Gathering at the beautifully historic Loyola University New Orleans. As my colleague and I walked through the lovely campus, I knew that it was going to be a different […]
First Affirmative’s key messages to advisors at the 2019 FPA NextGen Gathering: Follow your passion to build your practice! Enable clients to invest with their hearts – as well as their heads! Clients CAN achieve both their financial and impact objectives! Sustainable, responsible, and impact (SRI) investing is the unique value proposition you’ve been searching […]
Slowing Continues By Mel Miller, CFA® | Chief Economist The December Economic Commentary highlighted my concern that the economy might have slowed “too much.” As I share the first quarter results in this publication, I still can not answer the question. The fourth quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 2.2%. The first quarter GDP slowed […]
Volatility reigns: It just feels better on the upside By Theresa Gusman Volatility reigned in the first quarter. The US stocks surged higher, posting their best quarter in nearly a decade and offsetting the fourth quarter downdraft. Equity markets rebounded worldwide led by China, as US-China trade tensions eased, and the Fed signaled that it […]
Government Shutdown Impacts 2019 Proxy Season By Holly TestaDownload the PDF The start of this year’s shareholder proposal season was shrouded in uncertainty, as the government shutdown late last year included the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that is responsible for oversight of the process. Companies have the option of filing no action requests with […]
