| | Endowment Index Sees First Decline | | The Endowment Index was established as a benchmarking tool for investors in globally-diversified, multi-asset portfolios that include alternative investments and is the basis for the Endowment Collective Investment Fund (CIF), used by DC plans.Read more > | | | Market Mirror | Major U.S. stock indices struggled to end mostly higher, the Associated Press notes. However, the Russell 2000 fell 33.40 points (3.11%) to 1,041.89, and the NASDAQ was down 5.64 points (0.12%) at 4,637.99. The Dow closed 52.12 points (0.32%) higher at 16,398.57, the S&P 500 was up 3.68 points (0.19%) at 1,925.71, and the Wilshire 5000 increased by 1.90 (0.1%) to 19,708.70.
On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares traded, with a near 2 to 1 lead for advancers. On the NASDAQ, 2.7 billion shares changed hands, with 1.6 declining issues for every advancing issue.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 17/32, bringing its yield up to 2.176%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 7/32, increasing its yield to 2.971%. | | | Sponsored message from SEI | How are your peers responding to the evolving landscape for DC plans?
SEI recently conducted a survey of 230 plan sponsors gauging current perspectives around plan design, target date investing, and governance. Request your advanced copy of the results today.Read more > | | | Compliance | | Excessive Fee Claims Against Principal Dismissed | | An appellate court has dismissed a plan sponsor’s lawsuit claiming its plan provider charged excessive fees to retirement plan participants. Affirming a district court’s decision that McCaffree Financial Corp. failed to state a claim, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that Principal Financial Group was not acting as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it entered into a contract with McCaffree to offer separately managed accounts for McCaffree’s retirement plan for employees. Among other things, the 8th Circuit found Principal’s adherence to its agreement with a plan sponsor does not implicate any fiduciary duty.Read more > | | EEOC Issues Final Rule for Multiemployer Plan Partitions | | On June 19, 2015, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) published an interim final rule to implement the application process and notice requirements for partitions of eligible multiemployer plans under Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA). The agency has published a final rule with minor changes to the interim final regulation in response to public comments received.Read more > | | Court Sides with Plan Sponsor in Wellness Program Challenge | | Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) generally prohibits employers from requiring their employees to submit to medical examinations, Flambeau, Inc.’s requirement that employees complete a health risk assessment and biometric test falls within the ADA’s “safe harbor,” which provides an exemption for activities related to the administration of a bona fide insurance benefit plan, a district court judge found.Read more > | | | Small Talk | | ON THIS DATE: In 1773, the first public museum in America, The Charleston Museum, was established in Charleston, South Carolina. In 1896, at Davidson College, several students took the first X-ray photographs to be made in America. In 1904, Henry Ford set a new land speed record when he reached 91.37 miles per hour. In 1908, a wireless message was sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. In 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposal to give women the right to vote. In 1915, the U.S. Congress established the Rocky Mountain National Park. In 1932, Hattie W. Caraway became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not discriminate against law school applicants because of race. In 1966, “Batman” debuted on ABC-TV. In 1971, “All in the Family” debuted on CBS-TV. In 1986, space shuttle Columbia blasted off with a crew that included the first Hispanic-American in space, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz. In 1999, Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball was sold at auction in New York for $3 million to an anonymous bidder. In 2006, the U.S. Mint began shipping new 5-cent coins to the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. The coin has an image of Thomas Jefferson taken from an 1800 Rembrandt Peale portrait in which the president is facing forward. Since 1909, when presidents were first depicted on circulating coins, all presidents had been shown in profile. | | TRIVIAL PURSUITS: The 409 areas in the National Park System include those designated as national parks, monuments, battlefields, military parks, historical parks, historic sites, lakeshores, seashores, recreation areas, scenic rivers and trails, and the White House. Of the 409, how many are designated as national parks?Read more > | | 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 > |
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