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March 18, 2013 | Market Commentary
The U.S. stock market has been relatively placid despite fears of the country going off the “fiscal cliff” at the end of 2012. In fact, even before the rumors of a compromise on the extension of the Bush era tax cuts, the S&P 500 Index was down only -1.3% from Election Day (November 6) through …
February 11, 2013 | Tax Planning
On January 1, 2013, the U.S. Senate passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012; shortly thereafter, the House of Representatives voted to adopt the Senate bill. One day later, on January 2, 2013, President Barack Obama officially signed the bill into law. In doing so, he brought to an end …
January 08, 2013 | Retirement Plans
Introduction The following provides a general overview of credit balances, their effect on funding levels and minimum required contributions for qualified single employer defined benefit pension plans, and key considerations with regard to utilizing or reducing a credit balance. Ultimately, …
January 03, 2013 | Investment Themes
Today’s “risk on/risk off” world is dominated by short-term (at times minute-by-minute) swings in sentiment influenced by the latest headlines hogging the spotlight, spanning from the Fiscal Cliff in the U.S. to the state of austerity plans in Greece. While these events have consumed the …
November 30, 2012 | Market Commentary
Investor attention quickly shifted toward the “fiscal cliff” following the conclusion of this year’s election. Recent market weakness reflects the widespread uncertainty surrounding expiration of a variety of tax cuts and the advent of certain austerity measures at the federal level early in 2013. …
November 28, 2012 | Market Commentary
Those concerned with managing risk tend to spend a good deal of time assessing potential downside threats. This has especially been true in the aftermath of the worst recession and bear market since the Great Depression, as many are concerned with the risk of returning to similarly dire …
November 28, 2012 | Retirement Plans
At a basic level, laws are constructed to provide order or process through rules. When a law is enacted, an increased level of certainty or clarity is therefore implied. This has not been the case with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) or the Supreme Court’s …
November 15, 2012 | Market Commentary
At the conclusion of its two-day meeting in September, members of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced an agreement to pursue additional monetary policy accommodation. With the goal of fostering a stronger economic environment, the committee set forth a plan to …
September 27, 2012 | Market Commentary
The U.S. trade balance has been deteriorating since the late 1990s, in part due to increasing imports of crude oil and other petroleum products (Chart 1). This trend has improved somewhat in recent years given a combination of decreasing consumption and increasing production (Chart 2). In 2010, …
September 13, 2012 | Market Commentary
We concluded our December 2011 Outlook Series piece: Emerging Markets: Dipping a Toe In, acknowledging the extraordinary growth prospects in the emerging world, which were even more compelling in the midst of the slow growth environment. To recap, as conditions evolved throughout 2011, valuations …
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