The critics of short-termism have it wrong. The evidence doesn’t support the idea that the economy is suffering because shareholders focused on quarterly reports leads to myopic management. One quarter doesn’t make a trend, but consider the latest quarterly reporting season. Capital spending by S&P 500 companies is expected to be 24% up over the previous year, according to Credit Suisse, even as the wider economy increased business investment only 6%. It may not last, but the quarter provides a rebuke to critics of “quarterly...

Source: Wall Street Journal May 10, 2018 16:24 UTC