Free Republic

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday reversed restrictions imposed under his predecessor Donald Trump on retirement plans considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors such as climate change and racial justice when selecting investments. The Labor Department announced a final rule first proposed last year after Biden, a Democrat, ordered government agencies to assess climate-related risk to retirement and pension investments. The rule will make it easier for retirement plans to invest in socially responsible funds and companies, though it requires investment decisions to be based on traditional financial factors. The rule, which the department said covers plans...

Wall Street ended Friday -- the final day of the month and the quarter -- on another down note, with the main stock indexes posting their third straight quarterly loss for the first time since the Great Recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 500 points for a loss of 1.7 percent on the day, marking a decline of 8.8 percent for the month of September, 6.6 percent for the quarter, and 21 percent since the start of the year. The market's dismal recent performance follows historically high inflation, rapidly rising interest rates, and fears that the economy could soon...

Top investment banks expected Russia to suffer severe economic damage after it invaded Ukraine in February.But Russia's economy has held up better than expected, causing them to revise those predictions.In March, top investment bank JPMorgan said Russia's gross domestic product would fall 35% in the second quarter compared with the previous. Goldman Sachs predicted its economy would suffer its worst contraction since the Soviet Union imploded in the early 1990s. But Russia's GDP slipped only 4%Stronger-than-expected exports of Russian commodities, including crude oil, has helped support the economy. The country has also benefited from robust demand among its own consumers...

Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat who single-handedly thwarted her party's longtime goal of raising taxes on wealthy investors, received nearly $1 million over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose taxes would have increased under the plan. For years, Democrats have promised to raise taxes on such investors, who pay a significantly lower rate on their earnings than ordinary workers. But just as they closed in on that goal last week, Sinema forced a series of changes to her party's $740 billion election-year spending package, eliminating a proposed 'carried interest' tax increase...

There was a (very) brief period in which BofA’s Michael Hartnett – whom we long ago dubbed Wall Street’s biggest bear – turned ever slightly more bullish, when he told clients that while the bear market is far from over (recall he expects that to end some time in October with the S&P plunging down to 3,000) a powerful bear market rally had taken hold around the time we saw the biggest equity inflow in 10 weeks; even so, his advice to clients was simple: “fade all rallies.” All that’s over, and in his latest Flow Show note (available to...

One month after the April Fund Manager Survey was downright “apocalyptic” with the majority seeing a bear market and stagflation – yet nobody rushing to sell – and with optimism plunging to levels right before Lehman, today Bank of America published the latest, May FMS (available to pro subscribers in the usual place) in which the bank’s doom-and-gloomy Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett (who most recently warned that the bear market will end when the S&P hits 3,000 in October) found that his view is shared by a growing number of even more apocalyptic Wall Street professionals, because the survey...

After a tumultuous week of violent lurches higher (but mostly lower), the S&P 500 has ended April with its worst start to a year since the start of World War 2...Vacation bookings are soaring, car sales are booming and Americans continue to spend with abandon, thanks to higher wages and brisk hiring; and yet, the economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter, led by trade deficits and a drop in inventory purchases.“The market is worried about a very fragile economic outlook, as it should be," said Joe LaVorgna, chief Americas economist at Natixis and former Trump White House economic adviser.“The...

One month after the March Fund Manager Survey was downright “apocalyptic” with the majority seeing a bear market and stagflation, and with optimism plunging to levels right before Lehman, today Bank of America published the latest, April FMS (available to pro subs in the usual place) in which the bank’s doom-and-gloomy Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett found that his view is shared by even more Wall Street professionals, because the survey which polled 329 panelists managing $929 billion in AUM, found that global growth expectations plunged even more compared to last month, and dropped to fresh all-time lows (net -71%)...

Russia once again avoided a default on its foreign debt as the Kremlin transferred a $447 million bond payment. The payment was processed by JPMorgan, which is Russia’s foreign correspondent bank. It was then transferred to the admin agent, which in this instance is BNY Mellon, sources familiar with the matter told The Post. JPMorgan got the go-ahead from the Biden administration, which imposed sanctions on the Russian economy following President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, before processing the payment, Markets Insider reported. JPMorgan and BNY Mellon both declined to comment when reached by The Post. Holders of Russian bonds...

There’s little doubt that the growing influence of ‘ESG’ investing helped lead Western Europe to its present unfavorable position, allowing Russia to dominate the energy space. But going forward, a handful of Wall Street analysts are contemplating another ‘ESG’ revamp: allowing “military weapons” and “defense” stocks to be considered “ESG” plays. If you are thinking that this seems a little, well, off, don’t worry – you’re not alone. One prominent ESG investor said he was approached about the possibility last week, but he called the idea “absurd”, according to NYT. Leslie Samuelrich, president of the Green Century Funds, which was...

The U.S. Treasury Department clarified Friday afternoon that Wall Street’s traders and banks can continue to buy and sell Russian oil and gas despite a raft of sanctions against Russia and its largest lenders. The new guidance comes as traders and banks worry about running afoul of U.S. trade laws as world leaders rally against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. But Treasury underscored in a post that the U.S. sanctions against Russia’s biggest banks — including VTB Bank — do not apply to energy transactions until June 24. The department also reassured investors that companies that transport...

Wall Street investors are dumping their Moderna and Pfizer stock faster than the world can drop the mandates. Moderna is down 70 percent from its high, while Pfizer is off 19 percent. Former Blackrock Executive and investment adviser Edward Dowd calls for Moderna to go to zero and Pfizer to end under ten dollars per share.How is this possible given that Pfizer now enjoys record earnings per share and a market capitalization of some $270 billion, making it the 29th largest corporation globally? With nothing but profits in sight for the Pharmaceutical giant, what could be the problem?After all, in...

Three top oil producing states run by Republicans were absent from a letter warning Wall Street financiers of consequences over woke capitalism.West Virginia Republican Treasurer Riley Moore led a coalition of 15 states last month highlighting $600 billion in assets they pledged to take from banks that embrace corporate wokeism and refuse to bank equally with fossil fuel companies. “Just as each state represented in this letter is unique in its governing laws and economy, our actions will take different forms,” Moore wrote. “However, the overarching objective of our actions will be the same – to protect our states’ economies,...

As New York City political elites brag about their “urban utopia,” reality shows it’s nothing like that. Rather a dystopia as defunding the police and other progressive policies have resulted in a surge of violent crime. The city saw its most significant year-over-year increase in shootings and homicides in more than half a century between 2019 and 2020. Violent crime continues to plague the city today, as top Wall Street firms tell their employees to “dress down” to avoid being targeted. Outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s progressive policies doomed the city as successor, Mayor-elect Eric Adams, a former police officer...

General Electric, the storied American manufacturer that struggled under its own weight after growing to become a sprawling conglomerate, will divide itself into three public companies focused on aviation, health care and energy. The company’s announcement Tuesday is the culmination of an arduous, yearslong reshaping of a symbol of American manufacturing might that could signal the end of conglomerates as a whole.

Today, the left is better at revolutionary ideas, in part because they’re willing to be revolutionary in their thinking and in their governing.The story of the past 100-plus years is the story of the rout of American conservatism — and the near complete and total takeover of the country and its Commanding Heights by a cadre of highly intelligent, determined, and ruthless individuals. How did the century begin? The left started from a humble base: a few people here and there, but certainly not dominating the levers of society. They were scattered about entertainment and Congress, and only truly formidable...

The fact that America’s biggest banks (not to mention many of its biggest companies) have embraced virtue-signaling on issues like racial equality and representation is nothing new. But in the race to be seen as the most beneficent megabank on Wall Street, Citigroup appears to be pulling ahead. One year after releasing a 104-page paper purporting to analyze the impact of racism and inequality on America’s economy – the analysts ultimately determined, in a report that reads more like propaganda than sell-side research, that “systemic racism” has helped to destroy some $16 trillion in economic value over the last 20...

The covid scare is officially over.According to the latest monthly survey of 600 global market participants conducted by Deutsche Bank, for the first time since June, the biggest perceived risk to markets is no longer covid. Instead the top three risks are i) higher inflation and bond yields, ii) central bank policy error and iii) strong growth failing to materialize or being very short lived (i.e. stagflation and/or recession). New covid variants that bypass vaccines has slumped from 1st place, which it occupied for the previous three months, to 4th place in October.Below we present some of the other notable...

Was just wondering...I haven't seen any stories about what is going on in the trading exchanges per the Covid crisis. Do those folks have to be vaccinated, or are they exempt? You just don't walk away from a Wall Street job. Are they wearing masks? Or, is this all JUST for the little people? Can someone enlighten me.

No Chinese company involved in the CCP’s genocide, human rights abuses and use of forced labor should be able to access our markets and raise money from American investors -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. say they want to send what's being called a big China bill to President Joe Biden. That's Washington-speak for major legislation that will push back on China's economic power. But to back up their words with action, the two Democratic leaders are going to have to take on one of Washington’s most powerful special interest groups and financiers...