Author: Press Room

Jason R. Escamilla, founder and CIO of ImpactAdvisor LLC in San Francisco, has seen it all before. It was nearly 30 years ago when he initially tried Socially Responsible Investing (“SRI”), the predecessor of ESG. And he was cool with it. Until everything changed. “ESG/SRI used to be about selectivity and choice,” says Escamilla. “I first got involved with SRI/ESG investing in the 90s. For decades, it was about selectivity and choice or preferences—primarily among institutional investors/clients. Funny thing happened on the way to going mainstream. ESG became the bully. The divestment movements ushered in powerful attention and support from…

Today’s Social Security column addresses questions about whether filing dates can affect the application of COLAs to benefits, how public pensions can affect spousal benefits and submitting applications before benefits begin. Larry Kotlikoff is a Professor of Economics at Boston University and the founder and president of Economic Security Planning, Inc. Should My Husband Have Filed In January Or Earlier To Receive The COLA? My husband was receiving spousal benefits before he filed for his benefit at 70. He turned 70 in December of last year. Should he have filed for his retirement benefit to have begun in January 2023…

Although the Federal Reserve voted to raise rates another .25% at its second meeting of the year, there was a silver lining in the announcement. In his opening statement, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated significant rate hikes may not be needed going forward, which will bring much needed relief and stability to the commercial real estate market. Investors were bracing for a .50% bump following Powell’s congressional testimony several weeks earlier during which he implied a larger rate increase might be warranted in response to stronger than expected economic indicators, especially in the labor market. Additionally, the annual inflation rate…

The United States is a country of two housing markets. In one, home prices are falling from a year ago. In the other, they’re still posting annual gains. That division runs right down the center of the U.S. In all of the 12 major housing markets west of Texas, plus Austin, home prices fell in January on an annual basis, according to mortgage-data firm Black Knight Inc.’s home-price index. In the 37 biggest metro areas east of Colorado, except Austin, home prices rose year-over-year. This pattern of geographical disparity is highly unusual, if not unprecedented, housing analysts say. “We’ve never seen anything…

With President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan hanging in the balance, borrowers can still count on resuming payments later this year with a clean slate. That’s because over $34 billion of defaulted loans have been made current under the administration’s Fresh Start program. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases against Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. The plan would cancel up to $10,000 in federal loans per borrower and up to $20,000 per borrower for those who used Pell Grants in college, eliminating about $441 billion in outstanding student debt.The first case involved six states that argued the plan…

Gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 2.9% annualized in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the first advance estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). That’s continuing growth from the third quarter when GDP rose 3.2% annually, the BEA reported in December. The increase in real GDP was driven by private inventory investment, consumer spending, government spending and nonresidential fixed investment, the BEA reported. Moreover, Americans’ personal income increased by $311 billion in the fourth quarter. That’s up from an increase of $283.1 billion in the third quarter.”The big picture view of economic growth in the fourth…

Asia-Pacific markets largely fell on Thursday as Wall Street digested the latest ADP private payrolls report, which showed slowing job growth in March.India’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate, or its policy repurchase rate, at 6.50%, defying expectations for the Reserve Bank of India to hike 25 basis points. The Indian rupee weakened 0.15% shortly after the announcement.The Nifty 50 gained 0.26% – an outlier as benchmark indexes across the region continued to see declines.South Korea’s Kospi led losses in the region as it closed 1.44% down at 2,459.23, and the Kosdaq dropped 0.78% to finish at 865.58. Japan’s Nikkei…

The International Monetary Fund said in a Wednesday report that global tensions could disrupt overseas investment and eventually lead to a long-term loss of 2% of the world’s gross domestic product.Companies and policymakers across the globe are exploring ways to make their supply chains more resilient by “moving production home or to trusted countries,” the IMF warned in its report, adding that this will lead to fragmenting foreign direct investment.The IMF pointed to recent bills adopted against the backdrop of rising tensions between the U.S. and China, such as Washington’s Chips and Science Act. Japan recently imposed its own restrictions…

Demonstrators forced their way into the building that houses BlackRock’s office in Paris Thursday, taking their protest against the government’s pension reforms to the world’s biggest money manager. Videos shared on social media showed protesters entering the Centorial office block, located near the Opéra Garnier opera house, holding red flares and firing smoke bombs. About 100 people, including representatives of several labor unions, were on the ground floor of the building for about 10 minutes, chanting anti-reform slogans. BlackRock’s office is located on the third floor. “The meaning of this action is quite simple. We went to the headquarters of…

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