Top News  Shutterstock President Biden announced his latest steps against climate change today as he convened a virtual climate summit with 41 world leaders. He pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least in half by 2030, though the initial proposal will offer broad strokes rather than a detailed breakdown. The target would represent a near-doubling of the U.S. commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, when then-President Obama vowed to slash emissions by 26-28%, compared with 2005 levels.
Bigger picture: The announcement builds on other climate policies Biden has proposed in his first 100 days in office, including a plan to integrate climate risk into the financial system and a $2T infrastructure package. He's also set to issue an executive order on climate disclosure within the capital markets, a move that could shift investments and allocations in the fossil-fuel and renewables sectors. "Suddenly people are going to be making evaluations considering long-term risk to the investment based on the climate crisis," said U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.
It may already be happening. Electric vehicle stocks jumped after the latest climate headlines on Wednesday, as well as shares of solar companies. According to Bank of America, 90% of companies in the S&P 500 also now publish sustainability reports, up from 20% in 2011, suggesting the trend has gone mainstream.
Go deeper: Corporate America is warming up to Biden's new climate target. More than 400 businesses and investors, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), General Electric (NYSE:GE), Unilever (NYSE:UL) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT), have signed an open letter that backed cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. Green investing advocate Ceres said the signatories employ a combined 6M American workers across all 50 states and represent more than $4T in annual revenue. (42 comments)
   | | Top News Shutterstock President Biden announced his latest steps against climate change today as he convened a virtual climate summit with 41 world leaders. He pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least in half by 2030, though the initial proposal will offer broad strokes rather than a detailed breakdown. The target would represent a near-doubling of the U.S. commitment under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, when then-President Obama vowed to slash emissions by 26-28%, compared with 2005 levels.
Bigger picture: The announcement builds on other climate policies Biden has proposed in his first 100 days in office, including a plan to integrate climate risk into the financial system and a $2T infrastructure package. He's also set to issue an executive order on climate disclosure within the capital markets, a move that could shift investments and allocations in the fossil-fuel and renewables sectors. "Suddenly people are going to be making evaluations considering long-term risk to the investment based on the climate crisis," said U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.
It may already be happening. Electric vehicle stocks jumped after the latest climate headlines on Wednesday, as well as shares of solar companies. According to Bank of America, 90% of companies in the S&P 500 also now publish sustainability reports, up from 20% in 2011, suggesting the trend has gone mainstream.
Go deeper: Corporate America is warming up to Biden's new climate target. More than 400 businesses and investors, including Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), General Electric (NYSE:GE), Unilever (NYSE:UL) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT), have signed an open letter that backed cutting U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030. Green investing advocate Ceres said the signatories employ a combined 6M American workers across all 50 states and represent more than $4T in annual revenue. (42 comments)
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| Stocks Stocks closed higher on Wednesday following two days of declines, though futures hugged the flatline for much of the overnight session. Traders are meanwhile looking out for more economic data that could give another snapshot of the ongoing recovery. Small caps are also in focus given the strength seen yesterday, with the Russell 2000 ending the session up 2.4% to log its best day since March 1.
On the calendar: The Labor Department is set to release the latest count for new jobless claims. Expectations are for 617,000, but there could be another surprise, following the pandemic low of 576,000 seen the prior week. Another key report is existing home sales for March. The National Association of Realtors is forecast to show sales of previously owned homes slipping half a percent month-over-month in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.19M units.
The earnings parade will also continue, with two DJIA members posting results this morning - chip giant Intel (INTC) and chemical maker Dow (DOW). We'll also get numbers from American Airlines (AAL), AT&T (T), Biogen (BIIB), Blackstone (BX), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Snap (SNAP), Southwest Airlines (LUV) and Valero (VLO).
Commentary: "Significant stimulus, with more coming from the Biden administration, has driven economic forecasts up and might push overall EPS expectations from the $174 consensus projection currently to $180-$185," Citi's Tobias Levkovich said in a research note. "We think that equities are reflecting something closer to $190, which suggests that much is already priced in and that any shortfall could cause a meaningful pullback."
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| Sponsored By Seeking Alpha  Shutterstock Ambev operates in a country reeling under the pandemic, but Brazilians continue to drink beer, revenue is growing, and investor fear of Brazil will eventually subside as a commodity boom lifts its currency. Ambev is one of the biggest brewers in the world, but you wouldn't know that from its market cap. What's holding the stock back?
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