Nest eggs getting hit with double-whammy
The convey market is dealing a double-whammy to retirement hopes. Not solitary is it crushing the value of 401(k) plans, it’s also hurting pensions.
Pension plans among companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 director could end 2008 underfunded by a record $256.74 billion, according to S&P estimates. That would top the previous account of $218.51billion, set in 2002.
Rough recession recipe
What’s the worst kind of recession? The individual we’re in now, according to researchers at the International Monetary Fund.
After studying hundreds of recessions, credit crunches, housing busts and stock-market declines across the globe, they found that those associated with contracting regard and declining home values tend to be the deepest and longest.
Downturns with a severe credit crunch last an average of 4.3 quarters. A recession without one usually lasts just 3.6 quarters.
The January effect
It’s allotted period for party hats, New Year’sitting resolutions and a pleasing upswing for lower-quality investments.
High-yield “junk” bonds, on the side of example, have done better than the supersafe 10-year Treasury 67 percent of the time in January, according to Merrill Lynch adroit tactician Richard Bernstein. That compares with upright 50 percent of the adapt to the occasion the stand still of the year.
The January effect also shows up in developing-economy stocks, which reach the summit of global stocks overall 67 percent of the time in January, compared with 50 percent in other months.
The Associated Press
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