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Trump Bump and Sustainable Investing

https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-trump-bump-and-sustainable-investing-1529712001

Parnassus Endeavor hasn’t done much for investors lately. The large-company stock fund lagged behind two-thirds of peers over the past 12 months and returned 3% this year, trailing the broader market. That kind of performance usually doesn’t attract investors.

But not in this case: Endeavor (ticker: PARWX) has raked in $2.4 billion in new money since President Donald Trump’s election, hitting $5.2 billion in assets.

Comments

  • edited June 2018
    Sorry if this is duplicate... Think it had not been posted.

    My brother lives in Cali states he is holding large amt cash waiting market to crash so he can buy more real estates and stocks.... Being idle maybe
  • @johnN
    You stated: "My brother lives in Cali states he is holding large amt cash waiting market to crash so he can buy more real estates and stocks"

    >>>Has your brother been fully equity invested since the market recovery in 2009? When did he recently move to mostly cash?
    And why does he anticipate a serious market crash?
    Thanks,
    Catch
  • Re: the article, I don't have access, but the message is clear from the summary. However, anyone can argue any fund or other investment is somehow unworthy by cherrypicking the period by which it's judged. Too bad for this article's particular argument, PARWX is top 1-2% for 1m, 3y, 5y, and 10y. Yes, it's lumpy, but longer term, it's one of the very best.
  • edited June 2018
    Hi Catch
    He still has stocks heavily invested mostly technology/NASDAQ stuff/sp500 and indexes. He has not sell them yet. Although he has new money coming in and holding in cash waiting for crash to buy more real estates so he can rent the houses out. Cali in Bay areas homes now goes up ~ 900 dollars/day I think, it still a very hot market and he think it maybe best place to invest short/long term once the crash happen. He does not know but real estate crash happens every 10-17 yrs, last one was late 2007, and previous one in Cali was in early 1990s until the tech/dot.com boom
    so we maybe due for another one soon 12-36 months?! dont really know



  • You stated....... "so we maybe due for another one soon 12-36 months?! dont really know
    "


    Well, isn't this always the "thing" that serious investors have in the back of their minds............don't really know?????

    Clear as mud doesn't work in the real world of investing, eh? I hope your brother watches and digests the market everyday and is intuitive to the actions.
  • AG also down today.
    Derf
  • edited June 2018
    AndyJ said:

    Re: the article, I don't have access, but the message is clear from the summary. However, anyone can argue any fund or other investment is somehow unworthy by cherrypicking the period by which it's judged. Too bad for this article's particular argument, PARWX is top 1-2% for 1m, 3y, 5y, and 10y. Yes, it's lumpy, but longer term, it's one of the very best.

    @AndyJ - Not sure you got the gist of the argument from that incomplete summary John provided. Won’t give the greedy buzzards @Barron's my email address (because they’d saturate it with promotions - and probably want my cc number as well). So can’t access the article online. I do, however, receive the paper edition.

    The article focuses on increased flows into ESG funds (like PARWX) which invest “according to environmental, social, and governance principals.” In effect, Trump’s anti-environmental policies have awakened a “sleeping giant”. Environmentally conscientious Americans, alarmed by Trump’s environmentally harmful policies, have been investing heavily in environmentally friendly funds as a means of protest against his policies. And they’re doing so inspite of those funds’ lackluster performance. (Now, that’s principle.)

    This is most interesting. I liken it to the increased subscription levels at the NYT, WP and other fact-based news outlets since Trump’s election (using the term loosely). It’s doubtful @JohnN fully understands the article either. (But he seems like an otherwise “good guy”.) :)
  • edited June 2018
    Thanks, Hank. So the ESG surge is the main point, then; did the article make a clear connection with Trump? I ask because new launches and increased info on ESG, fossil fuel divestment, etc. seem to me like they predate the Trumpster's ascension. But maybe not the flows?

    As an aside, and as an example of the increasing wealth of info on the subject, the non-profit, corporate responsibility-focused organization As You Sow substantially expanded their mutual fund fossil fuel holdings analysis pages recently (pages they launched well before the um, latest inauguration), including covering holdings of the "Clean 200" low carbon impact companies.

    By the way, ESG funds have done well overall; most recent research shows there's no longer term "penalty" whatsoever, and when growth is in the lead generally, it's not unusual for the broad-based ESG funds to outperform non-ESG. Jon Hale, M*'s new guy covering "sustainability" investing in the fund world, has cited that research in several articles. (This year may be different, with traditional energy doing pretty well.)
  • edited June 2018
    Re “... did the article make a clear connection with Trump?”

    Here’s the entire (unedited) third paragraph:

    “Parnassus can thank Trump for the money gusher. A backlash against the President’s policies on the environment and other issues has helped to fuel a surge of money into funds such as Endeavor, which invest according to environmental, social, and governance principles. Indeed, the month after Trump was elected, net inflows into ESG mutual funds and exchange-traded funds soared nearly tenfold to $2.5 billion, compared with the prior month.”
  • Well, that sounds seriously convincing.
  • edited June 2018
    AndyJ said:

    Well, that sounds seriously convincing.

    Well ... take anything in Barron’s with a grain of salt. I skimmed the article pretty fast just trying to see where they were going. Whether their overall case is accurate / strong? ... Who knows?
  • Maybe, just maybe, investors chose Parnassus funds because of their excellent long term returns and performance in down markets. Not everyone is motivated by Trump, one way or the other.
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