(New York)

Warren Buffett is aged and venerated, which gives him some significant latitude in what he wants to invest in and not. No one in the investment community seems to have a problem with Buffett avoiding Bitcoin or meme stocks, but something Berkshire Hathaway did last week might cost them. The company blocked two shareholder resolutions requesting that its holding companies disclose ESG data on climate change and workplace inclusion. That is causing some on Wall Street to draw a line. For instance, both BlackRock and CalPERS, as well as Federated, all voted against Buffett. Buffett and other director shareholders were able to stop the measures because of their voting power.

FINSUM: This vote gets narrower every year and it is a good lens through which one can view the steady and seemingly unstoppable rise of ESG.

(Washington)

In its fourth-quarter earnings report…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(Shanghai)

Central Bank Governor Yi Gang said that Chinese financial institutions will have to…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(New York)

The market has been hard on special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) as prices have fallen dramatically…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(New York)

After a consistent rise in yields in late February and March rates are finally falling. However…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(New York)

IBM stock price rose about 4% on trading last week as the company had its first market-beating earnings report in some time and…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(Boston)

Healthcare has been one of the predominant stories of the pandemic, but its stock prices…see the full story on our partner Magnifi’s site

(Washington)

Ask any high earning northerner about the worst element of Trump’s tax cuts, and you will invariably here the same answer: the introduction of the SALT cap (state and local taxes). The puny cap sent effective tax rates spiking in higher tax states and helped propel a migration southward. Well, that mostly hated legislation might be headed for extinction as calls from lawmakers are growing louder to get rid of it. Interestingly, the push to get rid of it is not coming from Republicans, but Biden’s own party, since it disproportionately affects blue states with high taxes. According to CNBC, “More than 20 Democrats and nine Republicans have joined a bipartisan caucus that has pledged not to vote for any legislation that doesn’t include a repeal of the SALT cap”.

FINSUM: This has always been a pretty rough piece of legislation (logical as it may be), and it is easy to see that Biden may have to compromise on this.

(New York)

The annuities business has long been “plagued’ by commissions. High fees paid out to sales people had a multi-part effect that hurt the industry’s reputation. On the one hand it made the products look less competitive, and on the other it led to some bad behaviors among brokers. However, as the industry has been changing, so have the fees structures, with commission-free annuities now an important fixture of the market.

FINSUM: DPL Financial specializes in providing commission free annuities from top providers so that RIAs can now sell annuities.

(New York)

There has been a lot going on in the SPAC world, and high yield bonds have been very active lately given the rate environment too. But from a casual glance it would be hard to see that the two have much impact on one another. Yet, as it happens, SPACs are helping strengthen the high-yield bond market. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The wave of cash raised by special-purpose acquisition companies is rolling into the junk debt market, aiding distressed companies and rewarding investors who own their bonds and loans … SPACs, also known as blank-check companies, have issued roughly $100 billion of stock this year, a record, to buy private companies and take them public. Some SPACs are targeting companies with below-investment-grade credit ratings, hoping to use their cash piles to pay down debt and grow the businesses”.

FINSUM: When there is that much money in search of targets, it makes perfect sense that the search would extend into the high yield market.