Corporate Profits Come In Unexpectedly Strong

6 tips on managing your 401(k) plan effectively Associated Press Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 4:23 pm, Thursday, May 23, 2013 Even if you're a set-it-and-forget-it investor, unless you've pulled out of stocks altogether — as some investors did right after the 2008 financial crisis — it's likely the stock portion of your 401(k) account has grown significantly in the last few years. [] some 1.6 percent of investors age 55 or older who eliminated stocks from their portfolios when stocks collapsed in 2008, and never rebalanced their holdings, saw their portfolios grow just under 26 percent since the first quarter of 2009, Fidelity said. [] making periodic adjustments to your plan's asset allocation is a wise move, and part of remaining engaged with your overall retirement strategy. Under IRS rules, the maximum contribution is $17,500 this year. If your employer's match is more generous, you can put in less, says Beth McHugh, a vice president of market insights at Fidelity. The market rises and falls, and timing may not be on your side — just ask folks who began relying on their retirement savings as the market hit the skids in 2008. Since the first quarter of 2009, Fidelity's 401(k) accountholders have, on average, contributed 8 percent of their pay to their plan. Making sure you're financial needs are met in retirement requires having a sense of what those costs will be. [] not just the basics, but any travel or other major purchases. By some estimates, retirees will need 85 percent of their pre-retirement income coming in from several sources, including Social Security, 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts, a pension or similar employer-sponsored plan, and personal assets, such as other investments, savings or real estate. Experts recommend taking a look at your asset mix — how much you have invested in certain funds of varying risk, or say, the proportion of your 401(k) invested in stocks versus bonds or other investments — and tweak them occasionally. Making major changes to your 401(k) to profit off a market trend can be risky, and experts suggest avoiding it altogether.

Bloomberg today reported that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is taking a hard look at Google’s advertising business to evaluate whether it is cramming multiple products on customers and elbowing out competitors. AllThingsD independently confirmed that this has been discussed at the FTC, but it’s in the earliest of stages. Google and the FTC both declined to comment. The players are all too familiar, but the game is different, as the FTC largely cleared Google in a separate search and patent antitrust investigation last year. Google is nowhere near as dominant in advertising as it is in search, but the company has clearly been building up its advertising stack through acquisitions and its own product development — with regulators’ permission, so far. The cornerstone of those was buying DoubleClick in 2007, which the FTC itself cleared. The commission said at the time, “We want to be clear, however, that we will closely watch these markets and, should Google engage in unlawful tying or other anticompetitive conduct, the Commission intends to act quickly.” Since then, Google added other important buys such as AdMob and Invite Media and built its AdX ad exchange. The question is whether Google is using anticompetitive tactics to try to force its combined “end-to-end” solution onto advertisers, for instance by taking a loss on some products in order to make the full package more attractive. IDC reported this week that Google had 24.1 percent of the $3 billion U.S. display advertising market in the first quarter of this year, widening its lead over Yahoo and Facebook.

An 11-year study of the incidence of brain cancer at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in the state ended Thursday with university researchers saying they found no statistically significant elevations in the rate of cancer among workers.

Procter & Gamble is bringing back former CEO A.G. Lafley, a 33-year industry veteran, to its top post in a surprise move as the world's largest consumer goods maker tries to improve its results globally.

In the most prominent challenge of its kind, Hobby Lobby Stores Inc. asked a federal appeals court Thursday for an exemption from part of the federal health care law that requires it to offer employees health coverage that includes access to the morning-after pill.