| Economic Events | In the week ending February 21, the
advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for unemployment
insurance was 313,000, an increase of 31,000 from the previous week’s revised
level, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average was 294,500,
an increase of 11,500 from the previous week’s revised average.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.7% in January
after falling 0.3% in December, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced. The
index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2% in January after increasing
0.1% in December.
Real average hourly earnings rose by 1.2%
in January, seasonally adjusted. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% and
the CPI-U decreased by 0.7%. Real average weekly earnings increased by 1.2%
over the month.
New orders for manufactured durable
goods in January increased $6.5 billion or 2.8% to $236.1 billion, the U.S.
Census Bureau announced. This increase, up following two consecutive monthly
decreases, followed a 3.7% December decrease. Excluding transportation, new
orders increased 0.3%. Excluding defense, new orders increased 3.0%.
Transportation equipment, also up following two consecutive monthly decreases,
led the increase, $6.0 billion or 9.1% to $72.1 billion.
The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate
mortgage is 3.80%, up from 3.76% one week ago, according to Freddie Mac. The average
interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.07%, up from 3.05%.
| | Market Mirror | Major U.S.
stock indices ended mixed Thursday as oil prices fell again. The Dow closed
slipped 10.15 points (0.06%) to 18,214.42, the NASDAQ gained 20.75 points
(0.42%) to finish at 4,987.89, and the S&P 500 was down 3.12 points (0.15%)
at 2,110.74. The Russell 2000 closed 4.01 points (0.32%) higher at 1,239.11,
and the Wilshire 5000 closed 36.33 points (0.16%) lower at 22,278.23.
On the NYSE,
3.2 billion shares traded, with a slight lead for decliners. On the NASDAQ, 2.7
billion shares changed hands, with 1.2 advancing issues for every declining
issue.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased
17/32, bringing its yield up to 2.028%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond
fell 1 5/32, increasing its yield to 2.628%.
| | Compliance | GAO Finds Lump Sum Information Deficient | The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says
it reviewed 11 packets of informational materials provided by defined benefit
(DB) plan sponsors offering lump sums to as many as 248,000 participants and
found that all lacked at least some key information needed to make an informed
decision or were otherwise unclear. The GAO recommends that the Department of Labor
require DB plan sponsors to notify the agency when they offer lump-sum payment
windows.Read more > | The Department of Labor will offer its “Getting
It Right – Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities” training series in March.Read more > | Definition of Participant Governs NQ Plan Payment | A federal appellate court found three retirees
of Bausch & Lomb were not “participants” as defined in its nonqualified
plan for executives and, therefore, not subject to the change-in-control
provisions of the plan. The retirees sued Bausch & Lomb because their
recurring payments from the plan were stopped and they were paid a lump-sum of
their remaining account value, which they contended reduced their overall
benefits.Read more > | The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of Kentucky has issued a consent judgment against George Hofmeister, trustee of
several pension plans. Hofmeister has been ordered to repay $300,000 to the
plans sponsored by TPOP LLC, formerly known as Metavation LLC; Fairfield
Castings LLC, formerly known as Revstone Castings Fairfield LLC; and Fourslides
Inc. More
than $12 million has been recovered after investigations by the U.S. Department
of Labor resulted in court orders and injunctions against Hofmeister and other
fiduciaries.Read more > | | From the Magazine | Plan Sponsor Role in Retirement Readiness Calculations | Increasing interest in the retirement plan
industry is ensuring plan participants understand how their savings translates
into retirement income. However, plan sponsors are often unclear about how much
involvement they need to have in these discussions. Lisa H. Barton, partner in
the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice at Morgan Lewis,
answers reader questions relating to this topic.Read more > | | Small Talk | ON
THIS DATE: In 1827,
a group of masked and costumed students danced through the streets of New
Orleans, Louisiana, marking the beginning of the city’s famous Mardi Gras
celebrations. In 1922, in Washington,
D.C., the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for female
suffrage, was unanimously declared constitutional by the eight members of the
U.S. Supreme Court. In 1951, the
22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting U.S. Presidents
to two terms. In 1980, the first and
final Grammy for Best Disco Recording was awarded to Gloria Gaynor’s “I
Will Survive.” In 1997, Don
Cornelius received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
And now it’s time for FRIDAY FILES!
| We all need a dog like this in winter weather.Read more > | YouTube’s 10th anniversary viral video mashup.Read more > | In Milville, New Jersey, a
33-year-old school bus aide complained that someone stole $400 from her.
Authorities reviewed surveillance footage from the bus on which she worked, and
saw her rummaging through students’ backpacks. She was seen stealing money and
food from the three- to five-year-olds she was supervising. The aide has been
fired.
In Atlanta, Georgia,
researchers at Georgia Tech released results of a study that reveals the
perfect eyelash length. According to the researchers, the ideal eyelash length
is one-third the width of the eye—, anything shorter or longer than this
increases the odds of getting dust and debris in the eye. In addition to
analyzing animal hides from the American Museum of Natural History in New York,
the researchers constructed a model eye and put it inside a wind tunnel to
better understand the reasoning for the dimensions. “Eyelashes form a barrier
to control airflow and the rate of evaporation on the surface of the
cornea,” said lead study author Guillermo Amador, a researcher in
mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech. “When eyelashes are
shorter than the one-third ratio, they have only a slight effect on the flow.
Their effect is more pronounced as they lengthen up until one-third. After
that, they start funneling air and dust particles into the eye.”
| In Seoul,
South Korea, it’s scary enough when a car is swallowed by a sinkhole, but
this couple was walking on the sidewalk.Read more > | In Augusta, Georgia, a
family found out a man buried during a closed-casket funeral in December was
not actually their loved one. The Augusta Chronicle quoted Burke County Coroner
Susan Salemi as saying the lab didn’t return the man’s body after an autopsy.
The body of another man was mistakenly returned and buried by relatives who
thought they were laying their loved one to rest. Georgia Bureau of
Investigation officials said it will retrieve the wrong body from the grave and
pay for a new burial.
In Ottowa, Ontario, Canada,
last week, legislator Pat Martin hurriedly ran out of the House of Commons
during a vote. As members of Parliament began to rise one by one to vote, he
bolted from the room, but was able to return in time to cast his vote. He later
blamed his departure on an unwise purchase at a local store. “They had
men’s underwear on for half price and I bought a bunch that was clearly too
small for me. I find it difficult to sit for any length of time,” he told
the chamber to guffaws and applause from fellow legislators, according to
Reuters.
In Bogata,
Columbia, a 36-year-old woman previously known as Ladyzunga Cyborg (not her
original name) has won a court battle to have her name changed. According to
UPI, the woman says her government ID card now officially lists her first name
as ABCDEFG HIJKLMN and her last name as OPQRST UVWXYZ. She said it took her a
year of arguing with the Colombian National Registry to officially get her new
name, which she chose for being unusual and hard to pronounce.
Have a wonderful weekend,
everyone! | Share the good news with a friend! Pass the Dash along – and tell your
friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more > | News from PLANSPONSOR.com
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