The Wall Street Journal reported that some companies who stopped contributions to employees 401K since the recession began in 2008 are now slowly matching up to a certain level.
Yale Professor Robert Shiller predicted all kinds of economic doom today
Here are the top financial stories of the day:
1)Stocks slump as Greek crisis turns violent-From AP
A violent protest against the Greek government's latest austerity package hit stocks hard Wednesday and sent the euro sliding over a percent against the dollar.
With hundreds of protesters clashing with riot police and tear gas blanketing Athens' main Syntagma Square, investors are fretful that Greece's debt crisis is spiraling out of control. Reports that the Socialist government, which is led by George Papandreou, has launched power-sharing talks with the main opposition conservatives has only added to the uncertainty.
"Eurozone ministers continue to debate the details of a multi-billion euro bailout package amid a backdrop of protests, police clashes and a general strike," said Will Hedden, a sales trader at IG Index.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.8 percent at 5,758 while Germany's DAX fell 1.1 percent to 7,126. The CAC-40 in France was 1.3 percent lower at 3,816.
In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.6 percent at 12,007 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell a similar rate to 1,280.
Unsurprisingly, Greek shares took an even bigger battering, closing 1.9 percent lower at 1,243.
2)Retirement Plans Make Comeback, With Limits- From The Wall Street Journal
Many U.S. companies that during the recession cut 401(k) matching contributions—one of the most valuable employee benefits—are beginning to restore them.
But a number of firms are contributing less than before, are linking contributions to profits or are making workers save more on their own before kicking in, say benefits consultants.
UPS reinstated its 401(k) match in January after having suspended it in 2009. But the delivery giant changed the way it doles out the benefit: Instead of matching what employees defer up to 3% of eligible pay, UPS will now match half of what they defer, up to 5%. Its top contribution is now 2.5% of pay, compared with 3% in 2008.
3) Shiller: Housing Could Fall Another 25% But Is Harder to Predict Than the Weather-From The Daily Ticker
The housing bubble of the early 2000s was "unprecedented" and the "biggest in U.S. history," according to Yale professor Robert Shiller.
As a result, he says "it's very hard to forecast" where housing goes from here, now that it has officially fallen into double-dip territory, based on the S&P Case-Shiller Index.
Housing "might fall [another] 10-25% in the next few years," but forecasting housing today is harder than predicting the weather, Shiller says. "I don't see how anyone can quantify a forecast because it's such an unusual event."
In his latest books, The Subprime Solution and Reforming U.S. Financial Markets, Shiller argues the path to recovery is paved with financial innovation; 11 million homeowners under water is proof "they weren't protected and need a way to hedge their housing risk."
But "the economy is sick right now [and] I don't have any miracle cure," he admits.
Best known for his earlier works, Animal Spirits and Irrational Exuberance, Shiller is arguably the world's foremost authority on financial bubbles. So if he can't predict with any certainty where housing is going, what hope is there for the rest of the punditry?
Quote of the Day from Dave Ramsey.com:
Bad excuses are worse than none. — Thomas Fuller
Bad excuses are worse than none. — Thomas Fuller
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