The Bottom Line: Returns from sustainable and conventional bond funds have been disappointing, but investing opportunities are available and improvements may come later this year.      Notes of explanation: Performance of sustainable bond fund categories, 19 in total, listed in order of first quarter 2024 average total returns. Quartile rankings are based on Q1 […] The post Chart of the Week – April 22, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line: Natural Resources funds, one of 75 fund categories, posted the fifth best average return in March, but results vary by fund mandate. Notes of explanation: Funds listed in order of total return performance posted in March 2024. For mutual funds with multiple share classes, only the top performing share class is listed. […] The post Chart of the Week – April 15, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line:  Sustainable funds gave up assets in March while green bonds flourished. Relative performance results lagged, and fund launches continue to cool off. Sources:  Morningstar Direct, Bloomberg, MSCI, Bank of America and Sustainable Research and Analysis. The post Sustainable Investing Monitor-April 1, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line: Funds with the highest volatilities are typically, but not always, thematic concentrated funds that expose investors to near-to-intermediate term volatility or risks. Notes of explanation: The chart displays the ten funds with the highest standard deviations of monthly returns over a three-year period along with 12-month total returns to March 31, 2024. Volatility=monthly […] The post Chart of the Week – April 8, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line:  At the Crane Bond Fund Symposium last week, five observations and conclusions were offered regarding the current state of sustainable investing in fixed income.  Observations/conclusions offered at Crane Bond Fund Symposium At the Crane Bond Fund Symposium last week, five observations/conclusions were offered regarding the current state of sustainable investing in fixed […] The post ESG in Fixed Income: Crane Bond Fund Symposium, Philadelphia, PA, March 24 -25, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line: Only two sustainable fund investing options were launched in March 2024, reflecting a cooling off in sustainable mutual fund and ETF introductions. Sustainable mutual funds and ETFs launch between January 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024 Notes of explanation: New fund launches exclude listings of new mutual fund share classes. Sources: Morningstar […] The post Chart of the Week – April 1, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line: J.D. Power 2024 investor satisfaction study finds a significant year-over-year increase in investor satisfaction but lower levels of younger investor client loyalty. J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Full-Service Investor Satisfaction StudySM-Overall Customer Satisfaction Index Ranking Notes of explanation: Index ranking is based on a 1,000-point scale. ^Brand is not rank eligible because it […] The post Chart of the Week – March 25, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line: With additional room for growth for sustainable bond funds, investors can expect to benefit in time from additional fund offerings and categories. Conventional and sustainable bond funds versus their respective long-term universe of funds sustainable funds Notes of Explanation: Data covers long-term funds (money market funds are excluded), as of December 2023. […] The post Chart of the Week – March 18, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line:  Sustainable funds added net assets in February while green bonds flourished. Relative performance results lagged, and fund launches were missing in action.   Long-Term Net Assets:  Sustainable Mutual Funds and ETFs  Sustainable long-term fund assets under management attributable to mutual funds and ETFs, 1,537 funds/share classes in total, based on Morningstar classifications, […] The post Sustainable Investing Monitor-March 1, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more

The Bottom Line:  Sustainable funds in February benefited from the strong equity markets continuing since January, with 61 sub-categories, or 83%, posting positive average returns. Notes of Explanation: Average performance of sub-sectors covers sustainable mutual funds and ETFs. Sources: Morningstar Direct and Sustainable Research and Analysis LLC. Observations: Sustainable fund assets under management attributable to […] The post Chart of the Week – March 11, 2024 appeared first on Sustainable Investing ..read more