Economic Overview – January 2023
Click Here to View Full PDF Summary: Figure 1. National Bureau of Economic Research – Six Determinates of Recession, 2019-2022
Market Commentary – January 2023
Click Here to View Full PDF Corporate profits to decline: Priced in or “the other shoe”? Overview Inflation’s surge to a 40-year high in 2022 led the Fed to an unprecedented series of interest-rate increases, cratering the bond market and sending stocks tumbling. Following a 24.9% decline in the first three quarters 0f 2022, the […]
Advocacy & Impact – November 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF Preparing for the Next Advocacy Chapter: An Update from the ESG for Impact! Conference First Affirmative Financial Network hosted the 2022 ESG for Impact! Conference, an advisor focused summit that attracts advisors and managers from across the country and Canada. Our audience has a common goal: to serve clients […]
Economic Overview – November 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF Summary: Figure 1. Inflation
Market Commentary – November 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF Recession looms – But “it’s always darkest before the dawn”1 Overview After recording their worst first half in more than 50 years, US stocks fell 4.8% in the third quarter bringing the full year decline to 24.9% (see Figure 1, below) before an October rally pushed the S&P 500 […]
Advocacy & Impact – July 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF Proxy Season 2022 Yields Two Majority Votes First Affirmative filed nine proposals this year, and we are pleased to report significant outcomes. Of the four proposals that went to a shareholder vote, two achieved majority support and two garnered over 30%. We were also able to withdraw three proposals […]
Economic Overview – July 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF GDP Returns to Trend, Surging Inflation, Open Jobs, and Consumer Confidence Wanes Summary: GDP had recovered from the COVID pandemic. However, current indicators – consumer confidence, surging interest rates, hiring slowdowns – may presage a recession. Watch out for high inflation and its effects on a generation that has […]
Market Commentary – July 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF What’ll it be? Soft Landing, Stagnation, Hard Landing, or Stagflation “History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but it often Rhymes.” – Mark Twain Overview Stocks recorded their worst first half in more than 50 years, with the S&P 500 plunging 20.6% (see Figure 1, below). However equity valuations have become more […]
Advocacy & Impact – April 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF The Stars Align for a Blockbuster Proxy Season We are delighted to report that concerns that a new SEC rule designed to restrict shareholder proposals on ESG issues have been overshadowed by overwhelming evidence that efforts to restrict the shareholder voice have backfired. A changed landscape at the Securities […]
Market Commentary – April 2022
Click Here to View Full PDF Nowhere to Hide “It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who has been swimming naked.” Warren Buffet Overview Remember when…The S&P 500 advanced 27% in 2021, at year end the US 10-year Treasury yield was 1.5% and regular gasoline cost $3.28/gallon, and the COVID pandemic was […]
