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| Economic Events | |
| Employer costs for state and local government workers averaged $27.89 per hour worked for wages and salaries and $15.67 for benefits in September 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. State and local government health benefit costs averaged $5.09 per hour worked in September 2014. | |
| Market Mirror | |
Yesterday, the Dow closed 268.05 points (1.51%) lower at 17,533.15, the NADASQ fell 82.44 points (1.73%) to 4,684.03, and the S&P 500 lost 33.68 points (1.64%) to finish at 2,026.14. The Russell 2000 tumbled 26.20 points (2.21%) to 1,161.86, and the Wilshire 5000 decreased 371.30 points (1.72%) to 21,244.73. On the NYSE, 3.2 billion shares traded, with a near 5 to 1 lead for decliners. On the NASDAQ, 2.8 billion shares changed hands, with declining issues outnumbering advancing issues more than 4 to 1. The price of the 10-year Treasury note was up 15/32, bringing its yield down to 2.162%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond increased 23/32, decreasing its yield to 2.834%. | |
| Compliance | |
| Spending Bill Would Allow Pension Benefit Cuts | |
| U.S. House lawmakers agreed on an appropriations bill this week that includes an amendment submitted by Representatives John Kline (R-Minnesota) and George Miller (D-California) that would allow trustees of severely underfunded multiemployer defined benefit plans to adjust vested benefits. The lawmakers said this would enable deeply troubled plans to survive without a federal bailout. The provision would require approval by plan participants of any proposed benefit adjustments that take effect.Read more > | |
| A bill aimed at extending tax relief that is set to expire includes provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) related to funding methods and special benefit provisions for multiemployer plans. H.R. 5771, known as the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014, would extend through 2015 the ability of multiemployer pension plans to take an additional five years to amortize funding shortfalls. The proposal was enacted in the PPA, but expires at the end of 2014 unless extension action is taken.Read more > | |
| Pension Equity Plan Determination Letter Review Changed | |
| The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says it has improved its processing of determination letter applications for pension equity plans. The agency has issued procedural guidelines for its employees to use when processing determination letter requests for pension equity plans (PEPs), a type of hybrid pension plan. The guideline documents from the IRS explain the issues unique to PEPs that it will take into account when reviewing plan documents, such as how the provision of hypothetical interest impacts the plan’s compliance with the accrual rules of Internal Revenue Code.Read more > | |
| Investing | |
| Russell Sale Opportunity to Review Investment Benchmarks | |
| A recent deal between Northwestern Mutual and the London Stock Exchange Group brings more than $9 trillion in benchmarked assets under one roof. One retirement industry expert says the London Stock Exchange Group’s purchase of the Frank Russell Company, also known as Russell Investments, is a good opportunity for retirement plan fiduciaries and investors to think a little deeper about how their portfolios are built and measured.Read more > | |
| Small Talk | |
| ON THIS DATE: In 1769, Edward Beran of London patented venetian blinds. In 1816, Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th American state. In 1872, already appearing as a well-known figure of the Wild West in popular dime novels, Buffalo Bill Cody made his first stage appearance in a Chicago-based production of The Scouts of the Prairie. In 1941, Germany declared war on the United States. In 1946, the General Assembly of the United Nations voted to establish the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), an organization to help provide relief and support to children living in countries devastated by the war. In 1985, General Electric Company agreed to buy RCA Corporation for $6.3 billion. Also included in the deal was NBC Radio and Television. In 2008, financier Bernard Madoff was arrested at his New York City apartment and charged with masterminding a long-running Ponzi scheme later estimated to involve around $65 billion, making it one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history. | |
| SURVEY SAYS: How often does your company benchmark the success of its defined contribution (DC) plan? What measures are looked at? You may respond to this survey by 6 p.m. Pacific time today.Read more > | |
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Editorial: Alison Cooke Mintzer alison.mintzer@strategic-i.com
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