The Boston Globe - 17.10.2019

B10 Business The Boston Globe THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2019

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THEBOSTONGLOBE

Indexof publicly traded companiesin Massachusetts

A day of mostly listless trading ended Wednesday with
modest losses as the stock market gave back some of its
gains from the day before. Tech stocks accounted for most
of the selling; Microsoft lost 0.8 percent, Adobe 2.4 percent.
Financial stocks fell as bond yields, which are used to set
interest rates on loans, headed lower. A move on Tuesday
by the House to show support for pro-democracy protests
in Hong Kong appeared to dim optimism about the pros-
pects for progress in the US-China trade talks. Stocks got off
to a downbeat start as investors sized up a mixed batch of
economic data and earnings reports. Retail sales fell in Sep-
tember by the most in seven months. That stoked worries
that consumers are cutting back. Still, stocks are on track to
notch gains this week, in part because investors have most-
ly set aside concerns over the trade talks. Stocks had rallied
Tuesday on surprisingly good earnings and hopeful fore-
casts. Even so, third-quarter earnings overall are expected
to be down nearly 5 percent, according to FactSet. United
Airlines rose 2.1 percent and Bank of America 1.5 percent
Wednesday; both had results that topped forecasts.

Markets

Stocks end day with modest losses

DOW JONES industrial average

NASDAQ Composite index

S&P 500 index

Globe 25 index

SOURCE:BloombergNews

“poor judgment.”

“We are very clear. We don’t

have a relationship with any

manager who exercises such

poor judgment,” Hande said.

“This is an appropriate decision

to make, and we are protecting

investments and living our val-

ues with our investments, too,

which is incredibly important

to the mayor.”

Boston joins the Michigan

retirement system and the City

of Philadelphia pension fund in

dropping Fisher Investments,

bringing the total amount be-

ing withdrawn to more than

$900 million, according to me-

dia reports.

Other public retirement pro-

grams are reevaluating whether

to do business with the compa-

ny.

Fisher does not manage any

money for the Massachusetts

state pension system, a spokes-

woman for the state treasurer

said. The firm was on a list of

preferred vendors for invest-

ment services for the state’s de-

ferred compensation plan, but

it was notified in a letter sent

Tuesday that it had been

dropped from that list because

uFISHER

Continued from Page B7

“the comments represent a cul-

ture that is inconsistent with

the position and beliefs of this

Office.”

Fidelity Investments, as first

reported by Reuters, is also re-

viewing its relationship with

Fisher Investments. A spokes-

man for Boston-based Fidelity

told the Globe that Fisher man-

ages about $500 million for the

financial services giant.

“We’re very concerned about

the highly inappropriate com-

ments he made,” Fidelity’s Vin

Loporchio said. “We feel the

views he expressed don’t align

in any way with our company’s

values.”

The male-dominated invest-

ment industry has historically

been notoriously sexist, but two

years into the MeToo move-

ment that behavior is not being

tolerated. It is unusual for orga-

nizations to sever ties with a

money manager over offensive

comments, and it is being ap-

plauded.

“People can’t assume that

they can speak about women in

disparaging ways and that their

customers and their peers will

accept that type of remark as

kind of business as usual,” said

Karen Firestone, CEO of the

Boston wealth-management

firm Aureus Asset Manage-

ment. “It should not and can-

not be accepted anymore.”

Fisher Investments has

more than $112 billion under

management for large institu-

tions and high-net-worth indi-

viduals,accordingtoitsweb-

site.

Fisher spoke at an invita-

tion-only conference organized

by Tiburon Strategic Advisors

in San Francisco last week. The

remarks were meant to be pri-

vate, but some attendees decid-

ed to go public because of the

sexist nature of the comments.

“Things that were said by

Ken Fisher were absolutely hor-

rifying,” said Alex Chalekian,

chief executive of Lake Avenue

Financial in Pasadena, Calif., in

a video posted on Twitter. “I just

had to open up and mention

how disgusted I am.... We

need to change this. We need to

change it now.”

Fisher, in a statement, has

offered an apology, saying:

“Some of the words and

phrases I used during a recent

conference to make certain

points were clearly wrong and I

shouldn’t have made them. I re-

alize this kind of language has

no place in our company or in-

dustry. I sincerely apologize.”

But in an interview with

Bloomberg News, he showed

little remorse.

“I have given a lot of talks, a

lot of times, in a lot of places

and said stuff like this and nev-

er gotten that type of response,”

Fisher, 68, told Bloomberg.

“Mostly the audience under-

stands what I am saying.”

Shirley Leung can be reached at

[email protected].

Follow her on Twitter @leung.

Citypulls$248mfrompensionmanager

is a mess for everyone but the

affluent: over the last 30 years,

the state has produced half the

housing it was creating in the

1960s, ’70s, and ’80s.

It wouldn’t matter so much

if no one wanted to live here or

if our economy wasn’t grow-

ing. But the Boston area is the

place to be. Exacerbating the

situation is a demographic

shift: baby boomers are staying

put in their suburban homes

rather than downsizing, creat-

ing a housing shortage for mil-

lennials who are starting fami-

lies and want to buy.

Beacon Hill didn’t pass Bak-

er’s housing bill last year be-

cause it wasn’t bold enough.

His legislation has broad sup-

port from real estate and hous-

ing advocacy groups, and

while modest on paper, it

would be the biggest change to

zoning laws in decades.

If lawmakers can come up

with something better, then

let’s see it. But don’t putz

around and let another session

go by without housing reform.

How about trying to pass Bak-

er’s housing bill by year’s end?

Speaker Bob DeLeo and Senate

President Karen Spilka, you

can make this happen. Think

of zoning reform as a founda-

tion to do more. If you need in-

spiration, look to California,

which just passed a package of

laws that would increase home

production (such as effectively

eliminating single-family zon-

ing) and deal with displace-

ment (statewide rent control).

Here in Massachusetts,

there are consequences for in-

action. An analysis done by the

Metropolitan Area Planning

Council of 100 cities and towns

throughout Greater Boston

from 2016 through the sum-

mer of 2019 found there were

uLEUNG

Continued from Page B7

146 proposed changes to zon-

ing that involved housing pro-

duction. Of those, 86 would

have qualified for a simple ma-

jority vote if Baker’s bill had

become law. Of those 86, 22 re-

ceived a simple majority vote

but failed because they lacked

two-thirds support.

“I’d love to have those 22

amendments back. They

would have helped us to build

the housing people so desper-

ately need,” said Marc Draisen,

executive director of the coun-

cil, which supports Baker’s bill.

Unlike many other cities

and towns, Boston has been

building homes at a good clip

but not enough of them are af-

fordable. On Walsh’s watch,

the city has moved the needle

on supply, creating more than

31,000 homes with another

27,000 units in the pipeline. At

that pace, the city is on track to

meet its goal of 69,000 new

homes by 2030.

Walsh wants developers to

create more middle-class hous-

ing, even if it means making

less money. Talk to developers,

and they will tell you that

housing is expensive in Boston

because construction costs are

high. What if everyone took a

haircut — from the city (free

land) to developers (lower

fees)?

Economist Barry Bluestone

crunched some numbers for

me to see what that would look

like. It’s not pretty. Looking at

the six basic costs that go into

new housing (including land,

infrastructure, construction,

and financing), and if each

component was discounted, a

2,000-square-foot single-family

home would still cost about

$442,000.

The median household with

an income of nearly $89,000 in

Greater Boston would still

need to spend 41 percent of its

pre-tax income on housing, far

above the recommended 30

percent maximum.

Bluestone is a proponent of

building a large supply of

small units for students, mil-

lennials, and baby boomers,

such as 300-square-foot stu-

dios, freeing up the older —

and larger — homes they cur-

rently occupy.

The City of Boston, howev-

er, isn’t giving up on the idea of

creating middle-class housing.

“There is never going to be

enough public resources to

solve our housing problems.

We need the market to help

shape a response,” Sheila Dil-

lon, the city’s housing chief,

told me last week.

More pointedly, she said,

“How can the market respond

without public resources?”

To that end, Dillon will

work with chamber president

Jim Rooney and meet with de-

velopers to take a new look at

an old problem.

One obvious opportunity is

the 12 acres in South Boston

the state is slated to return to

the city as part of a scaled-back

expansion of the convention

center. The city, under Mayor

Tom Menino, had assembled

much of the land by eminent

domain for the convention

center.

Getting housing built in

South Boston has been notori-

ously difficult. Just ask devel-

opers Hilco and Redgate Capi-

tal Partners. Their plans to re-

develop the former Boston

Edison power plant were

slashed from nearly 1,700

units to 750.

Dillon isn’t fazed. That part

of Southie by the convention

center is close to public transit

and could become a new mid-

dle-income neighborhood.

“I’m excited about that,” she

said.

Like transportation, the

housing crisis has also reached

a tipping point. It’s time for ev-

eryone to get serious about

solving it.

Shirley Leung is a Globe

columnist. She can be reached

at [email protected].

Follow her on Twitter @leung.

It’s time to

solve the

housing

crisis

By Mark Gillispie

and Geoff Mulvihill

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEVELAND — Efforts to

settle thousands of lawsuits re-

lated to the nation’s opioid epi-

demic were intensifying

Wednesday, just days ahead of

the scheduled start of argu-

ments in the first federal trial

over the crisis.

A person with knowledge of

the negotiations told The Asso-

ciated Press that three major

drug distributors and two man-

ufacturers were working on the

outlines of a settlement.

It would include $22 billion

in cash over time plus up to $15

billion worth of overdose anti-

dotes and treatment drugs,

with distribution of those drugs

valued at another $14 billion.

Under the proposal, the dis-

tributors AmerisourceBergen,

Cardinal Health, and McKesson

would pay a total of $18 billion

over 18 years. Johnson & John-

son would pay $4 billion over

time. Drugmaker Teva would

contribute the drugs, but not

cash.

A $50 billion framework was

first reported Wednesday by

The New York Times. It’s not

clear whether states and local

governments will accept the

deal.

The person spoke on the

condition of anonymity because

the talks were ongoing and said

the details of the deal could

change. Drug companies and

state attorneys general who are

leading the negotiations either

did not return messages or

comment.

The talks are picking up as a

jury is being selected in Cleve-

land for a trial on claims

against some companies in the

drug industry being brought by

the Ohio counties of Cuyahoga

and Summit. They contend the

companies engaged in a con-

spiracy that has damaged their

communities and want to hold

them accountable.

Jury selection began

Wednesday and could wrap up

Thursday, with opening argu-

ments scheduled for Monday.

Johnson & Johnson has al-

ready settled with the two coun-

ties. If the other companies set-

tle, it would leave only the phar-

macy chain Walgreens — in its

role as a distributor to its own

stores — and the smaller dis-

tributor Henry Schein as defen-

dants.

It’s not clear whether the tri-

al would go on in that case.

While the case concerns only

claims for two counties, it is a

bellwether intended to show

how legal issues might be re-

solved in more than 2,000 other

lawsuits over opioids.

Painkillers and their illegal

versions have been linked to

more than 400,000 deaths in

the United States over the past

two decades.

Opioid settlement talks broaden ahead of 1st federal trial

DAVID L RYAN/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2019

The new Olmsted Green housing development in Mattapan. Prospective home buyers are

fighting for the same properties in many cities and towns, driving up prices to record highs.

JONATHAN FICKIES/BLOOMBERG

Ken Fisher has apologized

but says on other occasions

“mostly the audience under-

stands what I am saying.”