There were 50 fewer launches in 2007 as compared to 2006 for the first year-to-year fall since the millenium.
The rule would increase protection for employee contributions to pension and welfare-benefits plans for smaller firms.
“I don’t anticipate ‘stagflation’ ... anywhere near the situation that prevailed in the 1970s,” the Fed chief told Congress.
A record 516 new plans were funded in 2007, with total plans serviced growing to 2,825, a 15% increase from 2006.
“The economic situation has become distinctly less favorable,” Fed chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress.
The dollar fell to $1.5088 per euro, the lowest since level the European single currency's debut in 1999.
The firm an application with the SEC for exemptive relief for a series of actively managed, target-date exchange traded funds.
Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller national home-price index fell 8.9% in the fourth quarter from the year-ago period.
Ted Mathas has been named the firm’s chief executive officer-elect and will succeed Sy Sternberg.
Orders for durable goods fell 5.3% in January, a decrease of $12 billion, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
