Incredibly, we’re now four years removed from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which ushered in a period chock-full of uncertainty. We witnessed the uncertainty personally, a lived experience that will never be fully conveyed in future generative AI searches. But we also saw it expressed in the global stock market. Sharp stock market moves, whether up or down, typically result from significant surprises — an unexpected event, technological innovation, or profit impact that companies or investors did not foresee. Perhaps we can define a sharp reaction as a stock market that is up or down by more than 5% in a calendar quarter — an annualized move of more than 21%. Over the past four years, 81% of quarters have seen a move in the All Country World Index (ACWI) global stock index of greater than 5%, including this past quarter. How does that compare with prior years? In the dozen years immediately preceding the pandemic, only 56% of quarters had moves of more than 5% in either direction. The start of the 2020s has certainly been far from boring.
Investors Applaud the FTC’s Ban of Non-Compete Agreements, Safeguarding the Rights of Low- and Middle-Income Workers
Zevin Asset Management and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) today welcomed the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) passage of a ban on non-compete agreements (noncompetes), after having submitted a comment letter last year to the FTC, backed by investors representing $436B in assets, in support of the proposed ban back in April of 2023.
Japan: False Dawn or Land of the Rising Sun?
“Fall down seven times, get up eight” is a Japanese saying of resilience and perseverance. It also succinctly describes the pattern of the Japanese economy over the last 35 years. The Japanese real estate and equity bubble burst in December 1989, and since then the domestic economy has fluctuated between deflation and reflation with 45% of monthly inflation readings indicating falling prices. This situation is unique to Japan, which has been one of the weakest economies among the G7 countries over this timeframe. Japan has repeatedly experienced “false dawns” over the last 35 years where its economy appeared to be escaping the cycle, only to have economic recoveries fizzle out.
Unleashing Impact Through Gender Lens Investing
Gender lens investing offers investors a process for identifying and weighing issues pertaining to gender-based issues — pay equity, gender diversity, and career advancement, to name a few. We integrate these findings into our investment decision-making with the goal of mitigating risk, identifying opportunities, and creating positive social impact.
Gender equity, while an important aspect of Zevin Asset Management’s research and impact process, is a part rather than the sum of our approach. Given the overlap between the issues we work on in addition to gender equity, such as racial equity and climate change mitigation, we do not view these issues in isolation. Instead, we employ multiple lenses in our investment approach and look for intersectionality between these areas to help us better understand and address inequities in our systems and institutions.
Q1 2024 Impact Update
This quarter, investors grappled with the long-awaited, but ultimately underwhelming, climate disclosure rule adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The watered-down rule comes to the relief of corporate management and their trade associations, who lobbied to weaken it. The rule is not the last word on climate disclosure, as standards evolve, but the impacts of delayed action also bear a social and environmental cost.