Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 41…

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Brown Advisory recently released its Q2 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download here. The Equity Income Fund posted a return of 18.29% for the quarter, underperforming its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index which returned 20.55% in the same quarter. You should check out Brown Advisory’s top 5 stock picks for investors […]

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(Bloomberg) — When Joe Biden released his  climate plan last week, the Democratic candidate for president emphasized one overarching goal—and it wasn’t the reduction of greenhouse gases. Instead, he unequivocally linked broad climate action to employment.“When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is ‘hoax,’” Biden said in a speech unveiling the plan. “When I think about climate change, the word I think of is ‘jobs.’” His proposal aims to create 1 million openings in the auto sector, in part by investing in electric vehicle charging, plus another 1 million positions retrofitting homes for energy efficiency and weather resilience. The word “union” appears 32 times in the plan’s 15-page outline. A campaign promise is not policy, but the rhetoric and substance of Biden’s proposal represented two noteworthy developments. As a candidate, he’s signaling a bigger commitment to addressing climate change through policies targeting racial and economic inequality. At the same time, Biden is moving away from the discussion of climate change as a purely scientific problem.The Sunrise Movement, a youth-led progressive climate group, took credit for the former part of the plan on Twitter. “Before the GreenNewDeal, @TheDemocrats  tip-toed around the climate crisis, buying into the GOP lie that we had to choose between good jobs & our environment,” the organization posted. “Now, everyone knows that acting on climate change is the biggest jobs & economic opportunity in history. We did that.”The plan’s headline goals include a 100% carbon-free electrical grid by 2035 brought about by $2 trillion in climate-related spending over the next four years. Communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change would benefit from 40% of the spending. These include many largely non-White communities, which experience higher rates of pollution-linked health problems such as asthma and lead poisoning and also tend to be more vulnerable to climate phenomena such as rising sea levels.Biden isn’t the first American politician to link climate and jobs—in 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama pledged to create 5 million “green collar” jobs in the next decade—but the extent of the emphasis on employment is refreshing for many in the climate justice movement. “One of the critiques of the way many White organizations discuss climate change is that it is all technocratic, not something that the public can readily grasp or feel it’s relevant,” says Peggy Shepard, executive director of We Act, a Harlem-based non-profit environmental justice advocacy group, who said she was one of the many consulted by the Biden team. That approach to climate, as she sees it, can lead to narrow questions: “What can the average person do about reducing carbon by a certain percentage by a certain year?”By emphasizing policies that address racial and economic equity, Biden’s plan takes an approach to climate that goes beyond market-driven solutions. There’s no mention of a carbon tax, for instance. And while the proposal does emphasize business-oriented priorities such as putting the country in a position to manufacture nascent technologies such as carbon capture and green hydrogen, a related social justice-centric plan also outlines the creation of a White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and aims to “target resources in a way that is consistent with prioritization of environmental and climate justice.” (Michael R. Bloomberg, founder and majority shareholder of Bloomberg News parent company Bloomberg LP, wrote an editorial in support of the plan.)Biden has long been popular among Black voters, in no small part because he served as vice president under the first African-American president. His long legislative record came under fire in primaries, however, particularly his one-time collaboration with segregationist lawmakers in the Senate and support of the 1994 crime bill that led to mass incarceration. Some civil-rights activists continue to criticize his rejection of efforts to defund the police.There’s a clear gap in Biden’s support between older and younger Black voters. An analysis by the non-partisan Democracy Fund and UCLA’s Nationscape project published in the Washington Post in May found that while 91% of Black voters aged 65 and up said they planned to vote for Biden, only 68% of Black voters aged 18 to 29 said the same. That’s less than the 85% of young Black voter support Hillary Clinton drew in 2016. Maria Langholtz, a spokesperson for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said in a statement that the Biden climate plan had to speak to these voters. “Younger generations need to know the next president will treat the climate crisis with the urgency it requires—and that a clean energy future will include good-paying union jobs and a real commitment to racial justice.”Climate is an area where Black voters register consistently more concern than White voters. The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has found that 69% Latino voters and 57% of Black voters describe themselves as “alarmed” or “concerned” about global warming, while only 49% of white voters do. Whites are also more likely to be dismissive of climate change than Blacks or Latinos.Data for Progress, a progressive think tank whose 2018 climate plan maps closely to the blueprint released by the Biden campaign, released polling data last week on voters under 45 who identify as Black or African-American. The numbers show that the majority had heard at least something about Biden’s climate plans, and that most said provisions supporting social-justice initiatives as well as public investments in infrastructure projects to create union jobs made them at least somewhat more likely to vote for him.The plan takes pains to convince those who worry phasing out fossil fuels from the U.S. power grid will create economic devastation, says Sean McElwee, co-founder of Data for Progress. “That is a pretty dramatic shift,” he says. “This is a way to talk about climate change to blue collar voters so that it doesn’t seem like a liberal academic exercise to take away their jobs.”Jake Sullivan, a senior policy advisor to Biden, said the plan succeeded in something that is very tough: uniting many very diverse constituencies that don’t always agree. Its pretty good to get “the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, as well as the League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club and other environmental groups to come out and say it is great,” he said.An emphasis on jobs in some cases may have overshadowed policies favored by climate activists. Joseph Majkut, who directs climate policy at the non-partisan Niskanen Center think tank, notes Biden’s support for continued exports of natural gas. Biden has also declined to support a total ban on fracking, a wedge issue for many voters in swing states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania, and indicated that he sees a role for coal in the energy economy of the future. (Biden has said he opposes new fracking leases on public lands.)Still, environmental groups such as the the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund greeted the plan favorably. Bill McKibben, founder of the grassroots advocacy organization to limit greenhouses gases in the atmosphere 350.org, acknowledges the plan is doesn’t explicitly condemn fossil fuels but says there’s no need for climate-concerned voters to worry. “The fossil fuel industry has been weakened enough by activism and by the competition from renewables that by the time Biden takes office it will be a much smaller political force than it's been in the past,” he says. “Hence he'll have a much freer hand to be bold.”For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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A week ago, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) came out with a strong set of second-quarter numbers that could potentially…

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Insider Monkey has processed numerous 13F filings of hedge funds and successful value investors to create an extensive database of hedge fund holdings. The 13F filings show the hedge funds' and successful investors' positions as of the end of the first quarter. You can find articles about an individual hedge fund's trades on numerous financial […]

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The latest 13F reporting period has come and gone, and Insider Monkey have plowed through 821 13F filings that hedge funds and well-known value investors are required to file by the SEC. The 13F filings show the funds' and investors' portfolio positions as of March 31st, a week after the market trough. Now, we are […]

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Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY) shareholders will doubtless be very grateful to see the share price up 41…

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The shares of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL) continued to dip in the after-hours session Thursday, as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention extended its ban on cruise sailing in the United States.What Happened In an order Thursday, the CDC extended the suspension of "passenger operations on cruise ships with the capacity to carry at least 250 passengers in waters" through September 15."If unrestricted cruise ship passenger operations were permitted to resume, passengers and crew on board would be at increased risk of COVID-19 infection and those that work or travel on cruise ships would place substantial unnecessary risk on healthcare workers, port personnel and federal partners, and the communities they return to," the federal agency said in a statement.According to the CDC data between March and July, there have been 2,973 coronavirus or coronavirus-like illnesses on cruise ships since March, including 34 deaths.Why It Matters Cruise companies have been voluntarily delaying resuming their operations as well, with the risk of coronavirus spread remaining especially high in contained spaces.Norwegian announced last month it was suspending its voyages through October, and rival Carnival has also suspended its operations through mid-September at least.Miami-based Norwegian earlier in the day said it intended to raise $925 million via debt offerings and $250 million via stock offerings, as it looks to keep the business afloat during the pandemic.Price Action Carnival shares traded 1% lower in the after-hours session at $15.78 on Thursday, after closing the regular session 9.7% lower at $15.78.Royal Caribbean was down 0.4% at $53.94. It had closed the regular session 7.6% lower at $53.94.Norwegian dropped 0.7% further from the 15.6% lower close at $15.61 in the regular session.See more from Benzinga * iPhone Chipmaker TSMC Reports Massive Earnings Beat In Q2 * Biohaven Pharmaceutical's Migraine Drug To Be Promoted by Khloe Kardashian * GoHealth Shares Drop 9% On Day One Trading After 3M IPO(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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With many brick-and-mortar stores closed in recent months thanks to the novel coronavirus, shipping companies like FedEx (NYSE:FDX) are seeing increased traffic and profits. FDX stock is up 20% in the last month.Source: Antonio Gravante / Shutterstock.com But I'm not looking for this ride to last. In fact, FedEx is living on borrowed time. Investors would be wise to take their profits now, before Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) reinstates its Amazon Shipping program and flexes its muscle once again.It's only a matter of time before the bubble of FDX stock pops.InvestorPlace – Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips FedEx's Earnings at a GlanceTwo weeks ago, FedEx reported fiscal fourth-quarter 2020 earnings that sent the stock up 9%. Its revenue came in at $17.4 billion, which beat analysts' average estimate of $16.49 billion.Its earnings per share, excluding certain items, were $2.53, which was more than $1 per share better than analysts' mean estimate of $1.52. * 10 Work-From-Home Stocks That Are Beating the Pandemic The company said FedEx Ground's business grew 25% year-over-year. While the unit's business-to-business deliveries fell sharply because of the shutdowns, its business-to-consumer deliveries were more than enough to make up the difference.FedEx reported that it had made tweaks to improve its profit margins and offset higher costs in Q4.UBS analysts noted that FedEx's Q4 results had cleared "a low bar," as expectations for its earnings were modest. According to the firm, the company demonstrated that "the spread in profitability between their B2C and B2B business is likely not as wide as perceived."FedEx scored an earnings beat, but expectations were so low that the win isn't that impressive. FDX Stock Is on Borrowed TimeThe shadow that falls over FDX stock comes from Amazon, the e-commerce giant that seemingly has its hands in everything.Amazon is by far the biggest e-commerce player in the nation, with $280.5 billion of revenue last year. And it has its own delivery platform, bypassing FedEx and UPS (NYSE:UPS).Despite its incredible size and reach, even Amazon found itself overwhelmed in the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak. The giant's e-commerce sales exploded because consumers couldn't go to brick-and-mortar stores.Amazon hired 175,000 new workers to keep up with the demand, and it was forced to suspend its Amazon Shipping program. The pilot program let merchants who did their own warehousing also ship directly to customers, but it covered only a few major markets,Covid-19 cases are overwhelming many southern states and California now, but there is increasing pressure for states to reopen their doors as soon as possible to get the economy moving again.And happily, we may be closer to a vaccine than previously thought. Moderna (NASDAQ:MDRA) announced that its Covid-19 vaccine, which it's developing in partnership with the National Institutes of Health, performed well in a Phase 1 trial. The company is now moving on to Phase 3 tests.Remember, there's no love lost between Amazon and FedEx. The companies severed their air and ground relationships last year, and things have been tense between them ever since.Amazon barred companies enrolled in its "Seller Fulfilled Prime" program from using FedEx Ground and Home Delivery services. FedEx, meanwhile, purportedly told its employees not to order anything on Amazon's platform, even for personal use.Amazon won't even think twice about cutting into FedEx's business in the future.Amazon is too strong of a company to leave money on the table. You can bet that it will restart its Amazon Shipping program as quickly as possible, and that it will expand across the country as soon as Jeff Bezos & Co. determine that the investment is worth the return.That's going to take a bite out of FedEx. The Bottom Line on FDX StockDon't be fooled by FedEx's recent surge. The numbers are artificially inflated by Wall Street's overblown enthusiasm over its Q4 earnings and Amazon's temporary suspension of Amazon Shipping.Remember, the U.S. economy hummed along nicely for all of 2019. And in that same period, FDX stock fell more than 6%.That is more indicative of FedEx's growth prospects once Covid-19 vaccines are launched and Amazon restarts its pilot shipping program.If you've been holding FDX stock, then it's time to take your profits and move on to better opportunities. Shorting the shares could also be worthwhile.Patrick Sanders is a freelance writer and editor in Maryland, and from 2015 to 2019 was head of the investment advice section at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter at @1patricksanders. As of this writing, he did not have a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG * America's 1 Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * Revolutionary Tech Behind 5G Rollout Is Being Pioneered By This 1 Company * Radical New Battery Could Dismantle Oil Markets The post Take Your Profits in FedEx Stock and Don't Look Back appeared first on InvestorPlace.

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