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May 19th, 2023
Insight on Plan Design & Investment Strategy Every Weekday
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| ECONOMIC EVENTS |
Existing-home sales decreased in April, according to the National Association of Realtors. All four major U.S. regions registered month-over-month and year-over-year sales declines. Total existing-home sales, completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, slid 3.4% from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.28 million in April. Year-over-year, sales slumped 23.2% (down from 5.57 million in April 2022).
In the week ending May 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 242,000, a decrease of 22,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 264,000, the Labor Department reported. The four-week moving average was 244,250, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 245,250.
Interest on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.39% for the week ending May 18, up from last week when it averaged 6.35%, according to Freddie Mac. A year ago at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 5.25%. Interest on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.75%, no change from last week. A year ago at this time, the 15-year FRM averaged 4.43%.
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| MARKET MIRROR |
Thursday, the Dow rose 115.14 points (0.34%) to close at 33,535.91, the Nasdaq rose 188.27 points (1.51%) to close at 12,688,84 and the S&P 500 rose 39.28 points (0.94%) to close at 4,198.05. The Russell 2000 increased 10.36 points (0.58%) to close at 1,784.86, and the Willshire 5000 increased 388.57 points (0.95%) to close at 41,418.95.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note rose 2/32, bringing the yield to 3.650%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1/32, bringing the yield to 3.906%.
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PRODUCTS
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Investment Product and Service Launches
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John Hancock Retirement launches dynamic default investment feature; Tata AIA upgrades Life Fortune Guarantee Pension; Putnam Investments launches emerging markets ex-China ETF; and more. 
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SURVEYS
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2023 DB Plan Administration Survey
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Do you provide defined benefit plan administration services? Make your brand and capabilities known to plan sponsors by completing the 2023 DB Plan Administration Survey by the FINAL deadline of May 23.
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ON THIS DATE: In 1884, the Ringling brothers opened a small circus in Baraboo, Wisconsin and by the early 20th century had transformed it into the Ringing Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, the leading American Circus. In 1890, Ho Chi Minh—founder of the Indochina Communist Party and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam—was born in Hoang Tru, Vietnam, French Indochina. In 1925, American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1930, playwright Lorraine Hansberry, whose play A Raisin in the Sun, was the first drama by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, was born in Chicago. In 1935, British archaeological scholar, military strategist and author T.E. Lawrence, whose life inspired the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, died at age 46 following a motorcycle accident. In 1994, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis—who, as a first lady married to John F. Kennedy, became known for her style and elegance—died at age 64. In 2018, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex in the U.K., married actress Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
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