June Market Commentary
As we cross the half way mark for 2014, global equity markets are seemingly telling a familiar story. The MSCI World Index has clocked 15.7% in average annual returns over the past five years, placing 2014’s year-to-date gains of 6.2% just under that pace. Despite this familiar pattern, markets have taken an unorthodox path so […]
The UU Common Endowment Fund and Climate Change
The Unitarian Universalist Common Endowment Fund (UUCEF) and Climate Change The Socially Responsible Investment Committee (“SRIC”) of the UUA has endorsed the fossil fuel divestment resolution on the ballot at the 2014 General Assembly. If passed, this resolution will allow the UUCEF to continue a process begun years ago of reducing climate-related risk to our investments, […]
The Risks and Returns of Serving on your Congregation’s Finance or Investment Committee
I am often asked to share my knowledge about investing and fiduciary responsibility. My experience in the financial field has given me many insights about risk, investing, and governance, which I happily share with the UUA and fiduciaries who are just beginning their service to the UUA. The purpose of this article is to build […]
Chevron Shareholders’ $55 Billion Dollar Answer
Chevron’s 2014 annual shareholder meeting was remarkable in one respect. It was not marked by what happened. Instead it was notable by what did not happen. This year, Chevron’s management was clearly hoping for a better reception from it shareholders regarding its legal troubles in Ecuador. Chevron even showed a new video to shareholders that […]
The Road to Midland, Texas
Holed up in a hotel, I’m reflecting on what has brought me to Chevron’s annual shareholder meeting in Midland, Texas. I first learned of Texaco’s decades of oil pollution in the Ecuadoran Amazon in the early 1990s. As I was first organizing shareholders to oppose Texaco’s partnership with Burma’s military junta, other shareholders were starting […]
May Market Commentary [PDF]
Global equities continued their steady march upward in May amid tame economic growth, subdued inflation, and historically low volatility among asset classes. Emerging market stocks led the way, with the MSCI EM Index up 3.5%. Domestic small cap stocks partially reversed the selloff in April with the Russell 2000 gaining 0.8%. Following the trend in […]
September Market Commentary
Global stock markets posted strong gains in September as the Federal Reserve delayed plans to taper its accommodative monetary policy, tensions eased in the Middle East, and several emerging markets showed signs of stability. The S&P 500 climbed toward a return of 20% for the year-to-date period while smaller company shares have advanced even further […]
August Market Commentary
Global equity markets were pulled lower in August by concerns around an impending “tapering” of accommodative monetary policy in the US, and fears of escalating conflict in Syria affecting global energy supplies. Led downward by the shares of smaller companies, US stocks underperformed non-US equity, reversing a trend that held for most of the year […]
SRIC Report to 2013 General Assembly
Rev. Glenn Coleman Farley Chair, Socially Responsible Investing Committee Minister, Sedona UU Fellowship Last night on a Facebook post, our Moderator Gini posed a question: “What would it be like to have thousands of people to talk with about what we might promise in the service of bringing a more just world into being?” I […]