Finance

Are there any investment funds (ETFs or mutual funds) which exclusively purchase municipal bonds in “green” cities?

Most mutual funds seem to profit from unethical companies. Genocide (Lockheed, Google), Climate Catastrophe (BP, ExxonMobil), Slavery (Verizon, Walmart). Murder (UnitedHealth, Dow Chemical).

It seems like municipal bonds might be one of the more ethical ways to invest money.

Specifically, I’m looking to invest in cities that are building-out infrastructure that will lead to an elimination on their dependence on fossil fuels. For example:

1. Closing roads and building bicycle lanes.
2. Building electrified trains and dedicated bus lanes.
3. Passing laws to establish a maximum number of parking spots per person.
4. Mixed Zoning (walkable cities)
5. Banning fossil fuel power plants while building hydro/solar/wind/geothermal
6. Passing laws to heavily tax carbon emissions
7. And, of course, cities that invest in education usually get a great ROI.

Cities that come to mind include Paris and New York.

I could try to do all the research myself, and find a bunch of other cities that are on the right path -- but that seems like a full-time job, and it’s probably better to just have a fund manager do this research for us.

Are there already any funds that invest in municipal bonds exclusively in “green” cities?

“Inflation looks to be sapping some of Americans’ holiday cheer as they head out to buy gifts this Christmas season, according to the CNBC All-America Economic Survey. The survey found the high cost of goods has emerged as a major factor affecting how much shoppers spend and where they spend, suggesting inflation of the past several years and the rise in import goods prices from tariffs are being felt at the checkout counter. The survey of 1,000 people nationwide, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%, found that the high cost of goods is the top reason Americans are spending less and, in a first for the survey, the main reason they are spending more. … Overall, 41% of Americans plan to spend less this year, with 42% saying they will spend about the same and 16% saying they will spend more.”

I have a bunch of stocks and mutual funds in my portfolio. I’d like to sell some small percent of these “traditional” investments and purchase some cryptocurrency. But I’m trying to figure out how to calculate when is the best time to do this transfer.

Basically, what I want is to see some chart and setup an alert that tells me:

1. When the stock price is high (relative to my fiat currency) and
2. When the price of the cryptocurrency is low (relative to the above fiat currency)

First, how do I do this theoretically? Is there some way to construct a chart that simplifies two lines into one line, which is some calculation of the two lines that shows a single line with points very high on the y-axis when the above two conditions are true, and very low on the y-axis when the above conditions are not true?

Second, how can I setup an alert that tells me when the chart above is at some sort of year-time-high, so I can be alerted that “now” is a good time to sell stocks and buy the given cryptocurrency.

Want to buy a new shirt from your friendly neighborhood small business? In some cases, be prepared to pay out 2.5% more as a “financing” fee because you’re using a credit card. Enjoying that meal at the local diner? Better have cash or you could be subject to the same fee. Grabbing a bag of chips and a soda at the local convenience store? Oops … Unless you’re prepared to spend a minimum of 10 bucks you can’t use your credit card, sorry.

I’ve always been irritated by these practices. And I know I’m not alone. Who carries cash any more? Why are we, the customer, being shamed because we choose to buy something using what has become a standard form of payment over something that’s clearly a thing of the past?

Merchants have been fighting the credit card companies about these fees for years. And now they’ve won. This past week, Visa and Mastercard ended their battle, and now future fees will probably be lower for consumers that use some cards, particularly the ones that offer fewer rewards. But did these businesses really win? I’m not so sure. Be careful what you ask for.

Patrick Boyle always gets into the weeds, but I find his videos helpful because of that.

The reversal risks declawing a century of consumer financial protections and replacing the backbone of bank accounts.

cross-posted from !humanrights@crazypeople.online -- https://crazypeople.online/post/5464740

FATCA specifically oppresses Americans who live outside the US. It strong-arms banks into treating Americans adversely different based on their national origin (ranging from denial of service to extra data collection and disclosure). I thought Americans were the only people who broadly face discrimination in banking due to their nationality. But I recently heard of other nationalities (not Americans) who are refused bank access due to their nationality (in Europe, where we might have a high expectation of human rights).

I could never get the details. People that report this to me have been vague. But I’ve heard it twice now. Does anyone know the specifics? Which nationalities and why?

I tried looking this up but didn't find a satisfying answer. When a home is assessed for its taxable value, why isn't the market value just used?

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.11-114715/https://www.ft.com/content/4c78e822-3bb7-4e86-88eb-f5bfd1ee624f

Morgan Stanley reported a 26 per cent rise in first-quarter profits, powered by its equities trading business, which benefited from volatile financial markets during the early months of the Trump administration. 

Morgan Stanley on Friday said it had made net income of $4.3bn in the three months to the end of March, more than a quarter higher than the same period last year and beating analyst estimates of $3.7bn. 

“These results demonstrate the consistent execution of our clear strategy to drive durable growth across our global footprint,” chief executive Ted Pick said. 

The robust performance was powered by the bank’s equities trading business, which posted a 46 per cent surge in revenues to $4.1bn during the period. The fixed income trading arm reported a 4 per cent rise in revenues to $2.6bn. 

Net new assets in its wealth management business came in at $94bn for the quarter, slightly lower than the same period last year, but comfortably beating analyst expectations. 

This is a developing story

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.11-041804/https://www.ft.com/content/a3fb6b82-4a51-4a5c-b831-f755518f5863

(…) The dominance of the dollar in global trade and finance has long been assumed to be a net benefit for the American economy, but this assumption is increasingly being challenged. While it benefits Wall Street and global owners of moveable capital, these benefits come at a cost to American manufacturers and farmers.

In a world where some countries actively manage their external imbalances and others do not, the US dollar’s role as the primary safe currency has made America the chief enabler of global economic distortions. Addressing these imbalances requires a fundamental re-evaluation of the rules governing global trade and capital flows.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-121115/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-09/citadel-securities-pitches-banks-on-handling-their-bond-trades

More than 30 banks are engaged in talks — some more advanced than others — with billionaire Ken Griffin’s market-maker, hashing out an arrangement that would let them submit orders to the firm without revealing their clients’ identities. Citadel Securities is marketing the concept as a way for small- and mid-tier banks to provide better pricing on fixed-income trades. But it also would give it more insight and clout in markets.

“We’re creating an ecosystem,” Citadel Securities President Jim Esposito said in an interview, describing the project’s development in recent months. “If and when successful, you can envision a broader suite of products fitting into this ecosystem.”

The nascent concept to partner with banks — first reported by Bloomberg in July — has vast implications for Wall Street’s underlying mechanics and staffing. For banks struggling to keep up with industry leaders such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which plow billions of dollars into recruiting talent and honing systems to compete on pricing, Citadel Securities is offering a way to continue serving clients and stay in the game.

Under the current proposal, banks could still process trades themselves or choose Citadel Securities, which expects pricing to continue improving as it scores a better view of market data and trends. That may help banks go toe-to-toe with larger competitors when vying for business. Firms could also mark up the price to make a profit.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-073405/https://www.ft.com/content/0005e091-930d-46ff-9e81-8591704a9282

Treasuries sold off on Wednesday as President Donald Trump’s tariffs took effect, deepening investor concern about the “safe haven” status of US sovereign debt.

The 10-year US Treasury yield jumped to 4.51 per cent before falling back to 4.37 per cent — up 0.11 percentage points on the day — while the 30-year yield briefly rose above 5 per cent. The 10-year yield has risen from less than 3.9 per cent earlier this week.

The moves offer a new challenge to the Trump administration, which had previously cited lowering Treasury yields as a key policy aim, and could mark a loss of investor confidence in the world’s largest sovereign debt market.

“The sell-off may be signalling a regime shift whereby US Treasuries are no longer the global fixed-income safe haven,” said Ben Wiltshire, a rates strategist at Citi.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-021331/https://www.ft.com/content/1df217c4-2732-41d5-89a2-9f51fbd45e7e

Yesterday our MainFT colleagues published an important story about some of the US government bond market’s weird behaviour lately, which, unfortunately, quickly got buried by the unending avalanche of other news.

Fortunately, it also helps explain why US Treasuries have gotten hit hard again today, despite the stock market dipping back down again on more bad tariff headlines. (…)

as many americans forced to run with a 401k because we dont know any better and its the 'path of least resistance' to a retirement account... what do we do in the face of a dying democracy and economy?

id love to move it to some 'foreign' investments, but is that even a possible option? do i just hope and wait for stability to return at some point in the future or is it hookers and blow time?

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.08-195116/https://www.ft.com/content/c94e851c-8f02-424e-a0c6-09bbbedcf4ba

Computer-driven hedge fund Renaissance Technologies was wrongfooted after Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement last week sent shockwaves across global financial markets. 

The Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund, one of the group’s flagship strategies offered to external investors, was down about 8 per cent for April as of Friday last week, according to three people familiar with the figures. The losses reduce the fund’s 2025 gains to 4.4 per cent. 

Renaissance’s losses underscore the tumult in financial markets since Trump last Wednesday said the US would impose universal 10 per cent levies and far higher duties for many of America’s leading trading partners. 

One of Renaissance’s smaller strategies fared better in the recent market turbulence. The Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha Fund, which as of last September managed just $3.6bn, was down 2.4 per cent in April and has returned 11.5 per cent for the year, the people said. 

The institutional equities fund, which managed $19.6bn as of September last year, gained 22.7 per cent last year, while the Diversified Alpha fund rose 15.6, according to a person who had seen the numbers. 

Founded by quant pioneer Jim Simons, who was known as the “quant king” and died last May, Renaissance is one of the world’s best-known quantitative hedge funds. Quant funds shun human decision making and instead rely on computer algorithms to make trades, often identifying patterns in market data and trying to surf trends.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.08-012833/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-08/pboc-greenlights-yuan-weakness-with-fixing-past-7-2-per-dollar

China eased its tight grip on the yuan by weakening its daily reference rate past the keenly-watched 7.20 per dollar level amid the dramatically escalating trade war with the US.

The People’s Bank of China set the so-called fixing at 7.2038 per dollar on Tuesday, the weakest since September. It’s the first time since President Donald Trump’s November election that the fixing breached 7.20, a level seen by investors as a soft-red line for official intentions toward the managed currency.

Weakening its currency is seen an option for Beijing to raise the appeal of its exports, a key driver of growth now under greater pressure due to the trade tensions. But a decision to allow the yuan weaken sharply is a tough one as it may increase bearish bets on the economy, worsen capital outflows, antagonize the US and dim prospects of any trade negotiations.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.07-095321/https://www.ft.com/content/b418d001-b1cf-4f0e-93f0-50470f40e97a

You might have missed it, but April is “Financial Literacy Month” in the US. On April 1 (yes, really!) the White House released the following statement from Donald Trump: 

During this National Financial Literacy Month, I urge families, communities, schools, and institutions to commit to bolstering their financial knowledge. There are amazing resources available to you and your family through the Department of the Treasury’s website that will assist you in making sound financial decisions. Together, we can all protect each American’s right to economic freedom, securing the promise of prosperity for generations to come.

Kudos to the White House for all all-time classic April Fool’s joke, and H/T Richard Metcalf for the spot. Anyway, here’s a selection of charts pilfered from various sell-side research notes that show how the US government’s sound financial decisions are securing the promise of prosperity for generations to come.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.07-033221/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-07/asian-stock-benchmarks-drops-most-in-14-years-on-tariff-concerns

Stocks in Asia slumped, with a key benchmark sliding by the most in 14 years, as Chinese shares led a broad and deep selloff on worry over the trade war’s impact on the global economy.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell as much as 6.8%, the most since March 2011, with TSMC, Tencent and Sony among the biggest drags. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Indexplunged as much as 10%, the most in about 17 years. Every market was solidly in the red.

President Donald Trump dug in his heels after the tariffs he announced last week spurred retaliation by China. The biggest concern is that if nothing is done to de-escalate the situation, economies around the world could slide into recession.

Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.06-200300/https://www.ft.com/content/b7c5aea6-c429-4917-bf35-a4f1b3159f85

Large institutional investors are studying options to shed stakes in illiquid private equity funds after the rout in global financial markets pummelled their portfolios, according to top private capital advisers.

The calls by pensions and endowments seeking ways to exit their investments, probably at discounts to their stated value, is a bad sign for the $4tn buyout industry. Industry giants such as Blackstone, KKR and Carlyle all saw their stocks plunge by about a fifth in value last week.

The race to find liquidity signals that investors in private equity funds increasingly expect to receive few cash profits from their holdings this year and may face liquidity pressures that cause them to further retrench from making new investments. Last year, the private equity industry’s assets dropped for the first time in decades, according to Bain & Co, as fundraising plunged 23 per cent from 2023. (…)