Advisor Sales Strategies

Standard & Poor's wild month continues.

As employers migrate away from offering traditional pensions, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation announced Tuesday it will take efforts to streamline regulations.

In the beginning was the close, and the close was good because the buyer was ignorant of the close. Then, buyers saw the close for what it was and many began to hiss at it and gnash their teeth.

Stocks rose broadly Tuesday after fears that the U.S. would slip into a recession pounded the market over the last four weeks. Indexes briefly slipped from their highest levels of the day after an earthquake was felt throughout the Northeast.

If history is a guide, the S&P 500 stock index may have another 8% to 20% to fall from the current level in the event of a recession, according to an equity research report issued Monday by Standard & Poors.

Defined-benefit pension plan sponsors may find that current annuity rates make shedding unwanted pension obligations possible but not especially appealing.