Calls for fiscal relief involving 401ks are growing louder, with The Wall Street Journal joining the American Retirement Association and Empower Retirement in arguing for penalty-free—and in some cases tax-free—withdrawals to combat the coronavirus crisis. “As the coronavirus threatens to stall the U.S. economy, a relatively easy countermeasure is to hit the emergency 401k button: Congress should allow people to take…
It’s a carbon tax. A new report by consultants at Oliver Wyman shows that the world’s financial sector stands to lose $1 trillion if governments adopt a carbon tax as they attempt to shift to a low-carbon economy. Countries like Canada have already attempted to adopt forms of a carbon tax and a carbon border is being considered by…
Insurance investors delivered a clear verdict today: They’re a bit worried about how a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic might affect health insurers, but they hate how interest rate cuts might affect life insurers. The stock market as a whole had a terrible today, with the S&P 500 benchmark index falling 7.6%, based in…
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak has yet to spread meaningfully to U.S. shores, but fears of it alone have already eviscerated some $2 trillion of American stock market value, setting off a market rout that could stymie consumer spending – even before other economic effects of the disease are felt. FILE PHOTO: An…
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday updated its list of fictitious regulators and firms falsely claiming to be registered, licensed and/or located in the U.S., along with entities that impersonate actual U.S. registered securities companies. Included in the fresh list are 25 new soliciting entities and four phony regulators: Board of Financial Affairs, Finance Regulation Board, New…
WASHINGTON — “They say millennials are lazy,” billboards plastered across 15 major cities declared last summer. “Retire early and prove them right.” That sentiment, reflected in ads for the investment manager Prudential, is the stuff of a 30-year-old’s fantasy — and the Federal Reserve’s nightmare. A young generation of aggressive savers could leave central bankers…
The Securities and Exchange Commission is urging investors to be on the lookout for investment frauds related to the coronavirus, as the agency has spotted what looks to be such scams via internet and social media promotions. The agency’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy released an Investor Alert on Wednesday warning about investment frauds…
(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has confessed that it’s “very hard” to understand China’s economy. The outbreak of the coronavirus has made that exponentially more difficult.Yet it’s something that he can hardly afford to ignore when he adddresses lawmakers this week. The sheer size of China’s economy means that any hit to its…
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified Congress on Sunday that it may need to transfer millions of dollars of funding in its budget to respond to the coronavirus. HHS could shift up to $136 million to key agencies responding to the coronavirus, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). An HHS spokesperson said the…