January 21, 2021
The Biden administration could help reverse decisions under Trump’s U.S. Department of Labor that make it harder for fiduciaries of retirement plans to steer money toward environmental, social, and governance (ESG) funds.
In his first week of office, President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that will review the Labor Department’s 2020 ruling on ESG investments, or Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments, Bloomberg reports.
After the presidential election in November, the Department of Labor adjusted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require fiduciaries of retirement pensions and 401(k) plans to put economic interests ahead of “non-pecuniary goals”, deterring them from looking at environmental, social, and governance investing.
ETF Edge: International Investments Under A New Administration January 21, 2021
On this week’s “ETF Edge,” hosted by CNBC’s Bob Pisani, ETF Trends’ CEO Tom Lydon, Wisdom Tree Asset Management Global Head of Research, Jeremy Schwartz, and JPMorgan’s Head of America’s ETFs, Bryon Lake, all joined in to discuss the strength of international investments under this new administration.
Looking at the new Biden administration and the impact it may have on the ETF business, Lydon states how the progress scene in 2020 is looking to continue. That includes the big wave of mutual funds transitioning into ETF wrappers.
Lydon continues, “Most recently, there’s been an interest in standardization in ESG research.” Similar things could work in favor of moving cryptocurrency further along in an ETF form.
Eric Adams, youth activist and
Marvel superhero
Genesis Butler, and British entrepreneur and media personality
Heather Mills are among a growing number of supporters to the JIVINITI campaign which urges the
Biden-Harris administration to take a plant-based approach to battling the Covid-19 pandemic and address food insecurity, chronic illness, racial and gender-based structural inequality, and climate change.
A PSA has been created by the JIVINITI women s coalition calling for VP Kamala Harris to embrace plant-based solutions to the pandemic, health crisis, dietary racism and climate change.
Last month the predominantly BIPOC-led coalition penned an open letter (https://www.thevirsafoundation.org/jiviniti-plant-powered-kamala-campaign) to the administration as well as a petition (https://change.org/plantpoweredkamala) to Harris to go vegan in 2021.
ETF Trends CEO Tom Lydon discussed the
ProShares Online Retail ETF (ONLN) on this week’s “ETF of the Week” podcast with Chuck Jaffe on the MoneyLife Show.
ONLN tracks a global, modified market-cap weighted index of stocks issued by companies classified as online retailers. The fund tracks the performance of the ProShares Online Retail Index.
The fund provides an ETF strategy for the new consumers in a digital age. Americans spent a record $188.2 billion in online shopping over the 2020 holidays, a 32.2% year-over-year increase, and more e-commerce gains are expected.
Looking at the holiday shopping season, eCommerce sales during November, which included Cyber Monday, reached $100 billion for the first time. In another first, online spending exceeded $1 billion daily during the 2020 holiday season, and 50 days topped $2 billion.