Nearly 40 House Republicans have signed a letter to be sent to Republican leadership that advocates for the removal of the controversial “first in, first out,” or FIFO, provision featured in the Senate version of the tax plan, CNBC reports. In the tax plan that the Senate passed, investors would be forced to sell their oldest stocks first, the ones that have been in portfolios for the longest period of time and have the highest capital gains. The lawmakers’ letter is asking for that not to be the case, but rather to allow the investor to determine which portion of their shares to sell. Further controversy comes from the lack of money the provision raises, approximately $2.5 billion over 10 years. It also hurts small investors, who will now have to pay tax on their bigger profits sooner than they necessarily desire.
ESG-Friendly Companies in the S&P 500 Beat the Index
TruValue Labs, a company that uses artificial intelligence to collect environmental, social and governance data across asset classes, announced Wednesday that companies from the S&P 500 that demonstrated positive ESG scores outperformed the benchmark over a five-year period. The company partnered with Quantopian’s quant platform to backtest new ESG factors that, in turn, led to the index-beating results. The S&P 500 companies included in the asset class were those that had positive “ESG Momentum” scores assigned by TruValue Labs using its own proprietary research, along with standards set by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board. Historically, critics of portfolios with an ESG filter have argued that performance would lag.
Morgan Stanley Partners with Justin Rose
Morgan Stanley announced a new partnership on Wednesday with major champion and Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose. The golf pro said in a statement that he partnered with Morgan Stanley because the brokerage shares values he finds important: focus, integrity and giving back. Rose has won 20 professional golf events, including the U.S. Open Championship in 2013. He’s also participated in the Ryder Cup four times and won a gold medal in the 2016 Olympic games.
