Weekly Impact Investment Market Update: September 07, 2018

Impact Investing & ESG
 

More Institutional Investors Putting Money on ESG
ESG investing is growing in the U.S. among institutional investors, with issues such as climate change, gender diversity and weapons distribution garnering significant attention.

Impact Investors Should Use U.N. Targets as Investing Guide
The Global Impact Investing Network is urging investors to do more than seek positive social and environmental impact from their investments by asking them to specifically tackle the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, or SDGs.

ESG Investing: A Blue Ocean for Corporate Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans
The $28.0 trillion U.S. retirement market offers opportunities for growth in environmental, social and governance (ESG) assets under management (AUM), particularly among corporate-sponsored retirement plans.

4 Mistakes Investors Make with ESG Investing
Successful ESG investing requires more than just picking the best-in-class ESG funds or companies.

Want to Tackle Global Challenges? Think – And Invest – Differently
Impact investing is reshaping financial markets. Hundreds of billions of investment dollars now focus on social and environment challenges.

Value in Virtue: Impact Investing & the Economy
While the purpose of investing is to maximize returns, the allocation of capital also shapes corporate behavior, and that has implications for the economy. When capital is deployed with consideration to factors beyond just financial returns, like contributing to a positive difference in the world…that is impact investing.

 

United States & Europe
 

U.S. Economy Adds 201,000 Jobs as Unemployment Rate Holds at 3.9%
The US has now added jobs every month for 95 months in a row – the longest streak of uninterrupted growth on record. There are signs that the rate is slowing, however, and wage growth continues to lag as it has done since the end of the Great Recession.

N.Y. Fed Raises U.S. Economic Growth View for 2018 Second Half
The New York Federal Reserve on Friday increased its estimates on U.S. economic growth in the second half of 2018 following stronger-than-forecast data on manufacturing sector activities in August, the New York Federal Reserve’s Nowcast model showed on Friday.

 

Developing Economies
 

Rate Hikes in Store for Southeast Asia’s Two Biggest Economies
The outlook for interest rates in Southeast Asia’s two biggest economies is upward even after mixed inflation data on Monday.

It’s Not Time to Hit the Ejector Seat on Emerging Markets
Bailing out of a roller coaster midway through the ride is never a good idea. The same could be said about emerging markets right about now.