The Conference Board Middle East and North Africa Briefs

Retail spending in September rose $4.6 billion to $625.4 billion for the month – up 0.7 percent from the previous month and up 13.9 percent from a year earlier. These improvements were not merely a function of rising prices: adjusted for inflation, sales were up 0.3 percent month-over-month and 8.1 percent year-over-year. As the severity of the Delta wave continues to abate, these data suggest that American consumers still have an appetite to spend as we enter the last quarter of the year.

The success of human capital management (HCM) proposals helped drive the unprecedented level of support for “E&S” shareholder proposals in the 2021 proxy season. This blog focuses on what we saw in HCM proposals in 2021 and what to expect this autumn and next year.

Commentary on today’s U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation Report

August Personal Income & Outlays data, released this morning, show an economy that continues to grow despite the impact of the Delta variant.

The US Congress is currently locked in discussions on continuing to fund Federal government operations and whether to either raise or suspend the debt ceiling. We have been here before, and it has always worked out—with more or less pain along the way. Indeed, Congress has passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the Federal government through December 3, 2021. What if come December, we find ourselves on the brink once again? Also, what happens if we hit the public debt ceiling?

The 2021 proxy season was unprecedented, with record support for shareholder proposals on E&S issues, sustained opposition to director elections, and significant support for governance proposals, especially at smaller companies. In this blog post, we review overall trends in E&S shareholder proposals and what they portend for next year.

The spread of the Delta variant notwithstanding, FOMC participants are inching closer to removing the monetary policy punchbowl possibly as soon as the November meeting. We provide five key takeaways from the September Fed meeting and what it means for the C-Suite.