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Weekly Flash Report
The Markets and Economy
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The U.S. economy GDP shrank 0.7% in the first-quarter due to
trade and inventory data.
Durable goods orders were down a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in
April from the previous month.
The pending home sales index rose 3.4% in April from the
previous month.
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New home sales rose a larger-than-expected 6.8% in April.
The FIFA scandal is now being turned on the banks that were
used to pay $150 million in bribes. Banks involved include: JP
Morgan, Citigroup, HSBC, Bank of America, to name a few.
Initial unemployment claims rose by 7,000 to 282,000.
Regulatory Chatter and Industry Trends
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The DOL filed a suit against Alfred and Judy Chan the fiduciaries
of a pension plan for employees of their medical corporation. The
Chans relocated to Taiwan to avoid an indictment for Medicare
fraud. The Chans used pension plan assets to pay for personal
debts, personal legal fees and other non-plan expenses and
investments. Specifically a $200k investment in Facebook.
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SEC charges Laurence Gray and Robert C. Hubbard IV of
fraud for breaching their fiduciary duty by selling unsuitable
investments to Atlanta’s Pension Fund.
A group of retired teachers from Wisconsin are suing over
illegal post-retirement 403(b) contributions that were subject to
taxes because they didn’t follow 403(b) regulations.
Investment Manager News
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Abu Dhabi Investment Authority hires John Pandtle as head of
U.S. in its internal equities group.
PIMCO Australia names David Erdonmez as account manager
and head of the firm’s investment due diligence group.
SEC brings back former investment management director Andrew
J. “Buddy” Donohue as chief of staff.
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FINRA CEO Richard Ketchum said the Labor Department’s
April proposal would create new legal risks for brokers and
reduce the number of investment options offered to clients.
Mass Mutual hires Michele Baldasarre as VP of institutional
markets for MassMutual Retirement Services, in charge of
relationship management for retirement plan clients.
What’s Ahead
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PMI Services Flash – June 1, 2015
ISM Mfg Index – June 1, 2015
Factory Orders – June 2, 2015
ADP Employment Report – June 3, 2015
EIA Petroleum Report – June 3, 2015
Jobless Claims – June 4, 2015
EIA Natural Gas Report – June 4, 2015
Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index – June 4, 2015
Employment Situation – June 5, 2015
Consumer Credit – June 5, 2015
Please visit www.westminster-consulting.com for our newsletters, blogs, and other musings.
Every week, we send out a Flash Report to interested
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