Index-fund investors who didn’t sell into a crashing stock market in March should be pleased, as the S&P 500 has returned 1% in 2020. That’s despite a drop of as much as 30% earlier this year. Active fund managers want to beat the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.46%, but most can’t do it because it’s
A century after winning the right to vote and in the midst of a pandemic, female fund managers are outperforming their male colleagues on Wall Street. That is according to a team of equity strategists at Goldman Sachs, who crunched the numbers in honor of 2020, which marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment’s
Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund celebrated its 50th birthday in July. A mutual fund being in business that long has become about as rare as couples reaching their 50th wedding anniversary, and so the fund’s longevity is noteworthy in its own right. But, by analyzing this mutual fund’s performance, we can draw important investment lessons for
Two proposed rulemakings from the Labor Department in the past eight weeks would largely gut sustainable investing options and strategies in retirement plans. These proposals would reverse the Labor Department’s 2015 and 2016 guidance while ignoring the growing consensus among academics, retirement plan fiduciaries and professional money managers that responsible companies are likely to outperform
Clean-energy stocks and exchange-traded funds are on a tear this year, sharply outperforming the broader market and traditional fossil-fuel investments. The clean-tech ETFs with the most powerful year-to-date rallies include Invesco Solar ETF TAN, -2.89%, up 81% through Thursday; First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund QCLN, -2.20%, up 58%; and iShares Global
For the 55 calendar years from 1965 through 2019, Berkshire Hathaway’s stock rose at an 18.6% annualized pace, versus 11.8% for the S&P 500 SPX, -0.46% . (Both returns reflect reinvested dividends.) Warren Buffett can take credit for this, and he appears to be very much in charge of Berkshire. But, given that he just
California voters rejected a school bond measure for the first time in 30 years in March 2020 and state Sen. Steven Glazer, D-Orinda, wants a do-over. His Senate Bill 22, the Public Preschool, K-12 and College Health and Safety Bond Act, passed the Senate Thursday on a 31-5 vote. If the State Assembly approves it,
A Puerto Rico court rejected a motion from several bond underwriters to dismiss a bond insurer suit against them for misrepresentations in their Official Statements. Senior Judge Ladi Buono de Jesús issued the decision Wednesday from her position in the Court of First Instance in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bond insurers National Public Finance Guarantee
Municipal bonds strengthened on the long end Friday after the latest employment report showed continued job growth and buoyed equities and Treasuries. The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls rose 559,000 in May as the jobless rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1%. The numbers showed slow but steady strength in the labor market, but came in
Subway safety in New York took on a new meaning when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority acknowledged a cyber intrusion, which set off loud alarm bells about the rising threat of system hacks. The MTA is one of the largest municipal issuers and reports linked China’s government to the episode. Despite MTA officials’ assurances of quick
A $5.3 billion transportation bill awaiting Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’s signature will not require voter approval after Republican demands for a referendum were thwarted. Senate Bill 21-260, which won final passage in the state House of Representatives last month, provides $5.3 billion over a decade for highways, bridges and infrastructure for future electric vehicles. The
Investment manager MFS has launched a new intermediate tax-exempt fund aimed at giving clients more yield and duration opportunities. The new Municipal Intermediate Fund, which pursues total return with an emphasis on income exempt from federal income tax, aims to outperform the Bloomberg Barclays Municipal 1‐15 Year Index, the firm said. Periodic review of its
The California state treasurer wants Congress to triple the federal cap on tax-exempt private activity bonds that are used for high-speed rail projects and other surface transportation to $45 billion. California Treasurer Fiona Ma emphasized in a letter Monday to key House and Senate Democrats and Republicans the importance of including private investment in the
A proposed mandate to shutter the $5 billion Prairie State coal energy campus and a Springfield, Illinois’ plant by 2035 would hit local ratepayers with the double burden of funding new energy sources while still paying down project bonds, a bipartisan group of local lawmakers warn. Gov. J.B. Pritzker backs a state mandate to shut
Munis were quiet Monday along with U.S. Treasuries as participants await the larger new-issue week that begins pricing Tuesday led by competitive deals from gilt-edged Georgia and the state of Wisconsin. Flat with little activity is how municipals started the week as ratios continued to be close to or at historic levels due to the
President Biden said Monday his Justice Department will defend current law that denies Supplemental Security Income benefits to Puerto Rico residents but he called on congress to amend the Social Security Act to extend those benefits. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled in April 2020 that the prevailing federal practice of
The Biden administration is considering an investigation into whether imports of rare earth magnets made largely in China pose a national security threat that could warrant the imposition of tariffs. The White House said the commerce department would examine whether to probe neodymium magnets, which are used to manufacture everything from smartphones to electric vehicle
The surge of trading in offbeat stocks is duping inexperienced investors in to high costs and a battle with Wall Street that they cannot win, according to the founder of one of the largest trading firms in the world. Zero-commission trading helps to build an illusion that amateur investors have never had it better, Alex
Bill Ackman has already once tried — and failed — to redefine the Spac. Now he is trying again. The hedge fund manager’s special purpose acquisition company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, which raised $4bn last year, was not just the largest blank-cheque vehicle ever launched. It did away with some of the perks for founders,
Americans love pick-up trucks. Carmakers hope they will get a jolt of excitement from electric ones too. When Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning last month, it became the latest US carmaker to unveil a product to compete in a segment that comprised about 20 per cent of the US auto market’s 14.4m sales in 2020.
Brussels has warned that it is ready to intensify retaliation against the UK if Boris Johnson further postpones applying the two sides’ deal on Northern Ireland, in another sign of strained relations ahead of talks this week. EU Brexit commissioner Maros Sefcovic, writing in the Daily Telegraph, warned that “unilateral action” by the UK to
Biogen’s decision to price its newly approved Alzheimer’s treatment at $56,000-a-year has reignited the debate over the high cost of drugs in the US, the world’s largest and most profitable healthcare market. Shortly after securing US approval on Monday for the first new Alzheimer’s medicine in almost two decades, the Massachusetts-based biotech group announced a
Europe risks falling behind the US and China in efforts to decarbonise unless it legislates for a radical expansion of renewable energy, said leaders of the bloc’s chemicals and wind power industries. This would require a shake-up of national planning rules, and greater coherence in energy investment across the EU, according to Martin Brudermüller, chair
Narendra Modi, Indian prime minister, has announced that his government will offer Covid-19 vaccines to all citizens for free, reversing a much-derided policy requiring India’s states to buy their own jabs at higher prices. India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has for weeks been battling a severe shortage of jabs. Thousands of British tourists are
Kamoa-Kakula in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a rare commodity in the modern resources industry: a high-grade copper mine that one day could produce enough metal to satisfy more than 5 per cent of China’s annual demand. Surrounded by small villages, the mine employs around 7,000 workers and has its own road for trucks
Thousands of websites went offline for almost an hour on Tuesday morning, including several of the world’s largest news sites, streaming services, online retailers and even the UK government, disrupting millions of internet users. Connectivity problems lasting almost an hour appeared to affect news sites including the BBC, New York Times and FT.com, streaming services
The Chicago Transit Authority heads into the market next week to refund $127 million of federal grant anticipation-backed bonds with positive rating news in tow. S&P Global Ratings lifted its outlook to positive from stable on a portion of the CTA’s grant-backed bonds being refunded, citing improving coverage ratios. S&P also moved the outlook to
Bitcoin (BTC) is struggling to sustain any price level during the current pullback, indicating a lack of demand at higher levels. Does this mean that the bull trend is over and the institutional investors are abandoning the crypto markets? No! It is the other way around. Glassnode’s weekly newsletter pointed out that the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC)
Just as the cryptocurrency sector is constantly changing and evolving, the enterprise blockchain industry has been undergoing its fair share of developments lately. Most recently, enterprise blockchain solutions are shifting from private, closed networks to public, open systems. This has largely been made possible due to advances from the Ethereum network, which are ensuring better
There’s so much spare cash sloshing around U.S. funding markets that investors are choosing to park almost half a trillion dollars at the central bank — earning absolutely nothing. Usage of the Federal Reserve’s reverse repo facility — a mechanism that’s part of the central bank’s arsenal for helping to steer short-term interest rates —