Sustainable Impact investing continues to grow. According to Opimas, a management consultancy focused on global capital markets, global assets under management in ESG strategies grew to $40.5 trillion in 2020, doubling in four years and tripling in eight. As assets have flowed in, SRI investing has evolved over the past 40 years. Now, instead of merely identifying industries to avoid, the discipline promotes "sustainable" business practices across all businesses that can have an "impact" on global issues such as workers' rights, poverty, hunger, and the climate. Based on numerous requests from clients, we have compiled a portfolio of companies followed by Argus Research that are in position to have this type of "sustainable impact" on the environment, workplace, and community. These firms have exemplary records not only in delivering on the bottom line, but also in improving the environment, contributing to community relations, and showing respect for their employees. We built our portfolio by identifying companies that are BUY-rated by Argus analysts and also score well on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria established by the JUST Capital Foundation. JUST Capital utilizes a combination of polling, data-driven research, and strategic engagement to shift behaviors and activities in corporate America and the financial markets. JUST Capital's mission is to drive measurable corporate change to create a stakeholder-centric, inclusive form of capitalism that reflects the priorities of the American public. JUST ranks the Russell 1000 on these criteria against a scale of 1-100. Here are company highlights from the Argus U.S. ESG Model Portfolio.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Mid Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. The market capitalization range for U.S. mid-caps typically falls between $1 billion and $8 billion and represents 20% of the total capitalization of the U.S. equity market.

Our rating on the Financial Services sector is Over-Weight. With market optimism rising on positive vaccine developments and the new administration in Washington, interest rates have started to move higher at the long end of the yield curve. We expect banks to benefit from wider net-interest margins and lower loan-loss provisions as the economy normalizes, and insurance companies to generate higher income in their investment portfolios. The sector now accounts for 11.4% of the S&P 500. Over the past five years, the weighting has ranged from 10% to 17%. We think the sector should account for 12%-15% of diversified portfolios. Here is how we use our analysts' Financial Services sector ideas in our Focus List and Model portfolios. All of the following stocks are rated BUY at Argus.

The stock market was volatile last week as inflation concerns whipsawed stocks, ultimately pushing them lower on the week. During Friday's session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 361 points, or 1.06%. The S&P 500 was up 1.49%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 2.32%. For the week, the DJIA was down 397 points, or 1.14%, the S&P 500 was down 1.39%, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 2.34%. Year-to-date, the DJIA is up 12.34%, the S&P 500 is up 11.12%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 4.20%.

Investors hunting for stocks that reasonably balance long-term growth and current value characteristics might want to look at companies in the Financial Services and Healthcare sectors. These are among the industry groups that are currently selling for (price/earnings)/(growth+yield) ratios that are at or below the S&P 500's ratio of 2.4. To generate the PEGY ratios, we use the P/E ratio for each sector based on forward earnings for the numerator. For the denominator, we average the growth rates for the past three years along with two years of forward estimates, this in order to achieve a smoother, less-volatile, earnings trend. Then we add the current yield to approximate total return. Premium-valued sectors with low growth rates include Energy and Utilities. Our over-weight sectors include Healthcare, Financial Services, Industrial, Communication Services and Information Technology. Our under-weight sectors include Utilities and Consumer Staples.

Stocks finished higher on Thursday in a volatile session as investors weighed a new round of 1Q earnings reports along with weekly employment data. The Labor Department reported that first-time jobless claims fell to 498,000, the first drop below 500,000 in the pandemic era and below the consensus forecast. However, continuing claims rose to 3.69 million from 3.653 million and topped the consensus estimate. The data came ahead of the government's April employment report on Friday morning. The Reuters consensus calls for the addition of 978,000 new payroll jobs after an increase of 916,000 in March. The Dow rose 0.93%, the S&P 0.82%, and the Nasdaq 0.37%. Crude oil fell 1% to $65 per barrel, while gold rose $31 to $1815 per ounce.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Mid Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. The market capitalization range for U.S. mid-caps typically falls between $1 billion and $8 billion and represents 20% of the total capitalization of the U.S. equity market.

Stocks fell on Friday morning following a new round of first-quarter earnings reports from major companies along with March consumer spending data. The Commerce Department said that U.S. consumer spending rose a strong 4.2% last month after a decline of 1.0% in February. The reading came in slightly ahead of the Reuters consensus forecast of 4.1%. The Dow fell 0.6%, the S&P 0.5%, and the Nasdaq 0.2%. Crude oil traded near $64 per barrel, while gold fell slightly to $1769 per ounce.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Sustainable Impact Investing is gaining traction with the global investment community. In January 2020, BlackRock CEO Lawrence Fink, who oversees approximately $9 trillion in assets, announced that his firm would be investing in companies that are making progress on sustainability. He doubled down in his January 2021 letter, calling on company managements to disclose their plans for making their businesses "compatible with a net-zero economy" by 2050. As assets have flowed in over the past 40 years, Sustainable Impact Investing has evolved. The discipline, originally known as Socially Responsible Investing, focused at first on excluding companies that conducted business in South Africa, or participated in industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and firearms. But the performance of these 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 the climate, hunger, poverty, disease, shelter, and workers' rights.

With April winding down, you can count on someone, somewhere saying, 'sell in May and go away.' That pronouncement is mainly popular because it rhymes. While it is true that summer is typically a period of relative underperformance, market timing rarely works. And sometimes summer is a good time for stock performance.