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Background When Congress passed Section 401(k) of the Revenue Act of 1978 they began a revolutionary risk-transfer as it relates to retirement savings. With employers increasingly embracing the cash flow predictability of defined contribution plans, the percentage of private-sector employees covered by a defined benefit plan has declined from nearly

Policy Pivot Underway: Heralded as the most important meeting of the year, the FOMC was fully expected to cut the Fed Funds rate for the first time since October 2008. In direct opposition to the negative outcomes triggered by hawkish concern this past December, the ~10% rally we’ve seen in

As of June 30, 2019, the official U.S. unemployment rate resides at 3.7% which is very near the lowest in 50 years, as 21.5 million new jobs have been added in the last decade. This rate is well below the Federal Reserve’s longer run projected rate of 4.2% which has

Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a review of the prior month’s market data, the state of the economy, and the global financial markets. Global Economy: Financial assets across the board performed well in June, capping a very strong first half of 2019. While global

Policy Normalization on Target: With St. Louis Fed President James Bullard casting the first dissenting vote under Chairman Jerome Powell’s leadership, the FOMC voted to maintain the target range for the Fed Funds rate at 2.25% to 2.50%. As has been the case for recent meetings, this decision to take

Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a review of the prior month’s market data, the state of the economy, and the global financial markets. Global Economy: To paraphrase, the month of May came “in like a lamb” but went “out like a lion.” It was

Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a review of the prior month’s market data, the state of the economy and the global financial markets. Global Economy: With optimism continuing to reign in April, investors bid risk assets higher and markets maintained the “great start to

Please find the next blog in our monthly series that provides a review of the prior month’s market data, the state of the economy and the global financial markets. Global Economy: Under the cover of disappearing volatility, with the CBOE’s VIX index nearly 30% below its long-term average, the generalized