| Market Mirror | Wednesday, the Dow lost 69.03 points (0.33%) to finish at 20,855.73, the NASDAQ closed 3.62 points (0.06%) higher at 5,837.55, and the S&P 500 decreased 5.41 points (0.23%) to 2,362.98. The Russell 2000 was down 8.66 points (0.63%) at 1,366.03, and the Wilshire 5000 dropped 74.48 points (0.30%) to 24,563.52.
On the NYSE, 3.1 billion shares changed hands, with declining issues outnumbering advancing issues 2.6 to 1. On the NASDAQ, 2.9 billion shares traded, with a 1.5 to 1 lead for decliners.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 11/32, bringing its yield up to 2.557%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 14/32, increasing its yield to 3.144%.
| | Compliance | According to research provided by Segal Consulting, state-based Individual Retirement Account (IRA) programs can allow private sector workers to enhance their retirement security while the state also saves on Medicaid costs because fewer people would need to rely on Medicaid. The savings on Medicaid, some argue, can even go a long way to offset the cost of the IRA programs in the first place.
Read more > | | From the Magazine | Measuring Income Adequacy | The way in which the retirement plan industry tries to prepare workers for lifelong solvency—and help them to measure what they have amassed—has changed over the decades. Once centered on investment and saving, the focus has moved to the nest egg itself—how will it serve up as regular “paychecks,” and what lifestyle can they sustain? Or, as Stewart Lawrence, senior vice president and national retirement practice leader with Segal Consulting, in New York City, sums up: “When will you run out of money?” Read more > | A DC Plan Upgrade | Roger Paschke, vice president and chief investment officer (CIO) for The Hearst Corporation, and his investment team have become increasingly focused on enhancing the defined contribution (DC) plan, as it is the only active retirement plan available to the company’s employees. “We felt it was incumbent upon us to insure that it was as good a plan as we could make it—managing the DC assets as effectively as the DB [defined benefit] assets—in other words, making the DC plan like the DB plan,” Paschke says.
Read more > | | Investing | Vanguard grew assets in its target-date funds (TDFs) and collective investment trusts (CITs) by $96 billion in 2016, more than any other firm, according to Sway Research’s report, “The State of the Target-Date Market: 2017.” Sway Research believes that Vanguard’s TDF products benefited from a growing demand for passively managed products. Assets in passively managed target-date portfolios, at $653 billion, now outpace actively managed target-date portfolios.
Read more > | | Small Talk | ON THIS DATE: In 1788, Connecticut became the fifth state to join the United States. In 1820, the U.S. Congress passed the Land Act that paved the way for westward expansion of North America. In 1822, Charles M. Graham received the first patent for artificial teeth. In 1863, General Ulysses Grant was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union forces. In 1933, the U.S. Congress began its 100 days of enacting New Deal legislation. In 1945, during World War II, U.S. B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan. In 1949, the first all-electric dining car was placed in service on the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1959, Mattel introduced Barbie at the annual Toy Fair in New York. In 1964, production began on the first Ford Mustang. In 1985, “Gone With The Wind” went on sale in video stores across the U.S. for the first time. In 1990, Dr. Antonia Novello was sworn in as the first female and the first Hispanic surgeon general.
SURVEY SAYS: Not this week.
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