Stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, posted a gain of 23.5% in the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency. It was the sixth best performance of a head of state–regardless of party–since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s inaugural year gain of 46.6% in 1933. From 1933 through 2009, the S&P 500 averaged a 3.9% gain during inaugural years.
Pipeline for Women in Peril
Women M.B.A. graduates lag behind men right from their first job and do not catch up, show findings of the latest Catalyst study, Pipeline’s Broken Promise. Even after taking into account experience, industry, and region, women start at lower levels than men, make on average $4,600 less in their initial jobs, and continue to be outpaced by men in rank and salary growth throughout their careers.
Response to Haiti
Following the earthquake in Haiti, Americans swiftly made donations or said they planned to help those affected by the catastrophe. Almost as many blacks as whites made donations, but more blacks than whites said they planned to give money. Mobile giving exceeded $40 million through late February, according to the Mobile Giving Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aids other nonprofits in raising funds through mobile. Some 14% of people gave money via text message compared to 12% by telephone call, reports the Pew Research Center.
D.C. Residents Are Thriving
More than half of the residents of the Washington, D.C., metro area, 58.7%, have been categorized as “thriving†by a Gallup poll survey of the nation’s 52 largest metropolitan areas, meaning they rate their current and future lives as at least a 7 and an 8, respectively, out of 10. The city is No.1 on be’s list of Top Cities for African Americans.
This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.