Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural
address was delivered in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. He said, “This
great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first
of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is
fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed
efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
Last week, some were speculating fear and
uncertainty were behind U.S. stock market performance. The root of the problem
was the word ‘patient,’ which Barron’s
reported is likely to be removed from the Federal Open Market Committee’s
statement this week, paving the way for an increase in interest rates. The
publication cautioned that investors may throw a tightening tantrum and:
“That could make 2015 look a lot like 2013,
the year of the so-called taper tantrum. Remember when Ben Bernanke first
mooted the possibility that the Fed would curtail its bond purchases in
testimony to Congress on May 22, 2013? The markets reacted with, well, horror.
The S&P 500 fell 5 percent in just over a month of trading. Tapering
itself, however, went off without a hitch; the S&P gained 9.1 percent from
December 2013 to October 2014 as the Fed slowly cut its bond purchases.”
Continued strengthening of the U.S. dollar
also affected markets last week. Reuters
reported stock prices fell, in part, because of concerns about corporate
profitability in the face of a stronger dollar. Sources cited by Barron’s pointed out, in the long run, a
strong dollar is better for American companies. After all, a strong dollar
increases the buying power of consumers and companies. However, investors
currently seem to be focused on short-term consequences rather than long-term
results.
#make it happen! International Women’s Day (IWD) was on March
8. It celebrated the economic, social, and political achievements of women in
countries around the world. The United Nations explained IWD “is a time to
reflect on progress made, to call for change, and to celebrate acts of courage
and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in
the history of their countries and communities.”
Although IWD is not a recognized holiday in the United States,
American women have made great strides, particularly in the workplace. If you
look back to the 1890s, when the U.S. government first began gathering detailed
information about working people, there were about 63 million Americans.
Twenty-three million were working-age women. (The working age, whether you were
male or female, was 10 or older.) Women were a relatively small part of the paid
work force – just 17 percent – as most labored in the home or alongside their
families on farms, producing food and goods.
How times have changed!
The 2013 U.S. Census Bureau American
Community Survey estimated there were more than 316 million Americans in
2012. About 103 million were working age women (ages16 to 64) and more than 73
million women were part of the paid work force.
Women have become an integral part of American companies. In early
2015, Catalyst reported women who
worked at Standard & Poor’s 500 companies held:
·
25.1 percent
of executive/senior-level management positions
·
19.2 percent
of the board seats
·
4.8 percent
of chief executive officer positions
In addition, the inclusion of women on corporate boards appears to
correlate with better performance. The
Bottom Line: Corporate Performance and Women’s Representation on Boards compared
the performance of companies which included the most women on their boards to
those with fewest by measuring return on equity (ROE), return on sales (ROS),
and return on invested capital (ROI). Companies with more women sitting on
their boards had, on average, 53 percent higher ROE, 42 percent higher ROS, and
66 percent higher ROI.
Weekly Focus – Think About It
“No matter what message you are
about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or
making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person
sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish
common ground.”
--Madeleine
Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State
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