Q1 2019 Impact Update

In the first quarter of 2019, we continued using shareholder advocacy for positive impact and long-term risk management. Among other work, our proposal on lobbying ethics performed very well at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting; we continued a dialogue on responsible lending and customer protection with the Indian banking giant HDFC; we testified at the Boston City Council in support of divesting public funds from companies that profit from mass incarceration; and we joined with other investors pressing large banks to stop financing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

You can read about all of these initiatives and get a detailed account of our advocacy dialogue with The TJX Companies (parent of T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s) in our Q1 Impact Update. Contact our Director of Socially Responsible Investing Pat Miguel Tomaino (pat@zevin.com) with any questions, comments, or suggestions.

5G Rising

At this point, you have likely heard the term “5G” thrown around in sim­i­lar fash­ion to AI (arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence), autonomous dri­ving, and IoT (inter­net of things). The evo­lu­tion of fifth-​generation (hence, 5G) cellular/​mobile net­works will pro­vide a host of oppor­tu­ni­ties for busi­nesses, con­sumers, pub­lic enti­ties, and investors alike in the years ahead as the new mobile com­mu­ni­ca­tion super­high­way will facil­i­tate the faster trans­mis­sion of increas­ingly large data vol­umes. While increased data flow brings with it incre­men­tal cyber­se­cu­rity and per­sonal infor­ma­tion shar­ing chal­lenges, if man­aged respon­si­bly the ben­e­fits of 5G stand to out­weigh the risks.

Q4 2018 Impact Update

In the fourth quarter of 2018, we continued using shareholder advocacy for positive impact and long-term risk management. We filed several shareholder proposals challenging companies to link executive pay to long-term sustainable performance, promote inclusion, and improve lobbying ethics. We also co-authored an important letter to Amazon, urged world governments to act on climate change, and participated in a pathbreaking working group on investing and racial justice. You can read about all of these initiatives and get a detailed account of our advocacy dialogue with Ecolab in our quarterly Impact Update.

Deficits and Mar­ket Churn

As we pro­ceed through the fourth quar­ter of 2018 we are expe­ri­enc­ing one of the most intense peri­ods of equity volatil­ity since this long bull mar­ket began in 2009. There are mul­ti­ple con­tribut­ing fac­tors at play includ­ing geopo­lit­i­cal ten­sions, expen­sive stock val­u­a­tions, ris­ing inter­est rates, and trade dis­putes. Region­ally, the Euro­pean Union exper­i­ment is start­ing to crum­ble with BREXIT sched­uled to hap­pen (or maybe not?) on March 29, 2019. The Euro­pean Cen­tral Bank is on the verge of revers­ing their unprece­dented mon­e­tary eas­ing pol­icy. Emerg­ing mar­kets are expe­ri­enc­ing their worst period of insta­bil­ity since the cur­rency crises of 1997. Chi­nese growth is decel­er­at­ing as author­i­ties strive to achieve a consumption-​based econ­omy. And in the U.S. eco­nomic and polit­i­cal uncer­tain­ties abound. As a result, we here at Zevin Asset Man­age­ment rec­og­nize that the out­look for global equity mar­kets has become increas­ingly risky through­out 2018 and par­tic­u­larly so in the third and fourth quar­ters of the year.