The planets are aligned for an upbeat second quarter earnings season from consumer companies.

BACK IN 2012, when Andreas Feiner and his colleagues at asset-management startup Arabesque first began pitching investors about including environmental, social, and governance factors (ESG) in their investing decisions, they encountered plenty of skepticism, not to mention eye rolls, sidelong glances, and crooked looks. Investors, recalls Feiner, believed that “if you do something right, you have to pay for it” by accepting smaller profits and lower returns.

For years, investors have speculated about Apple buying or partnering with Tesla, considering the former’s ambitions in autonomous car technology and the latter’s potential need for additional cash to fund its operations. Both companies have something that the other needs.

The bull market turns 3,453 days old on Wednesday. It’s the longest period of uninterrupted gains in American history.

The remarkable run began on March 9, 2009, in the ashes of the Great Recession and the scariest financial crisis since the 1930s.

As designed, Social Security expects to replace around 40% of a typical retiree’s income, even less than that for those that happen to earn a higher-than-average income. As if that weren’t enough, Social Security’s trust funds are on track to empty by 2034, which would slash average benefits by almost 25% if nothing is done to head off the collapse. If living on somewhere between 30% and 40% of your current income in retirement doesn’t sound all that appealing to you, you need to invest to make up the gap.

The so-called “smart money” hedge funds are dramatically underperforming this year.

Goldman Sachs explained the weakness is the result of big positions in Facebook shares and disastrous bets against stocks.