Employees who have seen their 401(k) balances dwindle over the last year will soon be able to get long prohibited individual investment advice from investment companies including mutual funds as a result of a new rule from the Department of Labor (DOL). more

A quick update to one yesterday’s entry on Cox’s resignation: Elisse Walter was named acting SEC “chairman,” according to the SEC site. more

As FEI blogger Edith Orenstein reports, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox’s picture is no longer on the agency’s web site listing “Current SEC Commissioners.”

Cox resigned yesterday, as reported by Bloomberg.

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An enticing article title, “The Secret Briefing Obama Needs on Day One,” appears on the Foreign Policy site.

Writer Gregory Treverton, the director of the Center for Global Risk and Security at the RAND Corporation, identifies three passages that ought to be in the first President’s Daily Brief (PDB) Obama receives as commander in chief. (He’s been receiving these memos, described as “CNN plus secrets,” since he won the election.) more

It’s that time of year when many senior executives find out how happy their new year really will be as they learn the amount of their incentive compensation for last year. For some, it looks like the Grinch stole more than Christmas. According to a Mercer survey, the impact of the economy on corporate performance is sending annual incentive payouts south. Nearly two-thirds of companies (64 percent) are expecting below-target annual incentive payouts for 2008. However, 29 percent of respondents may offer some form of a discretionary award to select employees or possibly all eligible participants in an effort to retain talent in the tough economic environment. more