Sustainable Impact Investing is gaining traction not only with Argus Research clients but also with the global investment community. As assets have flowed in over the past 40 years, Sustainable Investing has evolved. The discipline, originally known as Socially Responsible Investing, first focused on excluding companies that conducted business in South Africa, or participated in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. In time, the list of industries to avoid increased to include soft drinks, fast food, and oil and gas, among numerous others. Performance of initial strategies lagged, and the approach has been modified. Now, instead of merely identifying industries to avoid, the discipline promotes “sustainable” business practices across all industries that can have an “impact” on global issues such as climate, hunger, poverty, disease, shelter, and workers’ rights. Given the strategy’s focus on leading management practices, we expect the growth curve for Sustainable Investing to again slope upward in the years ahead.

Argus• 20 hours ago

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will provide its second estimate of 1Q Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this morning. Based on last month’s advance estimate, U.S. output rose in the first quarter at an annualized rate of 2.0%. When we review this morning’s release, our focus will be on looking forward, not back. Based on the advance data, the most-important result is likely to be that private investment grew 8.7% and contributed about 1.5 points to growth (approximately three quarters of the total). Almost all of that came from categories related to artificial intelligence. Investment in computers, software, and research & development added about 1.3 points to GDP growth. The equipment category grew about 17%, with computer gear up 67%. The intellectual property category grew 13%, with software up 23%. Note that this is investment, not consumption. Unlike a dozen donuts that are devoured in the office, a good investment can make the economy and its workers more productive. Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in his 1990 book (The Age of Diminished Expectations) that “Productivity isn’t everything, but, in the long run, it is almost everything.” Krugman added, “A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.” That is what is so important and encouraging about the level of private investment — and it may still have significant room to run. Even with the massive proliferation of information technology over the last quarter century, equipment, and intellectual property products, at 11.3% of 1Q GDP, have not yet surpassed their 11.6% share of GDP in the second quarter of 2000. But it appears that they will. On May 21, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDP Nowcast provided an estimate for a 2Q26 GDP increase of 4.3% with equipment up 9.4% and intellectual property up 6.4%. Longer term, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress recently estimated that AI infrastructure spending is on track to reach $3-$4 trillion annually by the end of this decade.

Argus• 20 hours ago

Nvidia Corp., based in Santa Clara, California, is a visual computing company with worldwide operations and markets. The company operates through two segments, Graphics and Compute & Networking. The company’s four main markets are gaming, professional visualization, data center, and automotive.

Argus• 7 days ago

Stocks saw a nice snapback rally on Wednesday. Crude oil (WTI) was smacked, falling 5.5% to $98.50/barrel, while Brent oil dropped about the same to $105/barrel. That took a lot of pressure off the bond market, as the 10-year Treasury yield declined 9.5 basis points (bps), the 5-year fell 10.5 bps, and the 2-year dropped 8 bps. So for a day anyway, everything was back to normal. The AI charge reasserted itself, led by semiconductor stocks. MU popped 5%, AMD 8%, ASML 6%, INTC and LRCX 7%, and ARM 15%. The hottest chip names come from the memory and storage areas, and the timing of the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM, which began trading 4/2) has been a stroke of genius, so far. Assets under management (AUM) for new ETFs generally are nominal. But money has poured into this ETF, which now has an AUM of about $10 billion. And new funds go right into the stocks in the ETF, making an already hot area sizzle. From its 4/2 close, DRAM had rocketed 98% at its recent high on May 11. Indeed, momentum investing is the great self-fulfilling prophecy: higher prices attract more money, creating higher prices. The largest beneficiary of lower oil was Consumer Discretionary (XLY), rising 2.5%. The XLY was led by airlines (up 8%), furnishings (up 7%), and home construction and apparel retailers (up 5%). Meanwhile, durable household products, recreational services, and footwear all rose 4%. Most of these industries had been pounded recently.

Argus• 7 days ago