Current Happenings:
- Eli Lilly paused a government-sponsored trial of its COVID-19 antibody therapy due to safety concerns, less than 24 hours after Johnson & Johnson put their vaccine on hold after a participant fell ill.
- Big-box retailers have already started major sales events, hoping to spread consumer traffic and demand over the next few months to help customers maintain social distancing in stores.
- U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations hit the highest level in nearly six weeks, and new cases hit records in Europe.
- Nancy Pelosi sets 48-hour deadline to approve stimulus deal before the election.
Regulatory Trends and Industry Trends:
- A settlement is reached in Insperity 401(k) excessive fee, self-dealing suit where Reliance Trust was accused of selecting funds for the plan that would benefit itself. According to the settlement agreement, Reliance Trust will pay $39.8 million to settle the case.
- In a lawsuit against Nestle the plaintiffs argue that the managed account service added no material value to participants to warrant the additional fees, saying that , in most cases, the asset allocation created by the service was not materially different than the asset allocation of the age appropriate target-date option for participants, which was cheaper.
Investment Manager News:
- Vanguard Group named Andrew Maack as its new head of U.S. trading, replacing Michael Buek, who is to retire at the end of the year.
- Salvatore Naro, CEO and CIO at Coherence Capital Management, has joined Lazard Asset Management to launch a long/short credit strategy.
