Why Brokers Still Needn't Put Clients First

It may not be a household word, but the battle over your broker's "fiduciary" role has moved in a new direction -- away, some say, from a lot of clients' best interests. A major push by consumer advocates to hold stockbrokers to the same client-comes-first standard of care required of investment advisers -- the so-called fiduciary standard -- seemed close to success only a year ago. The five SEC commissioners, however, never voted to change the rules. Now, the SEC is saying it won't write any new rules until it studies how much they might cost the industry.

In 1978, the farmers in a small Chinese village called Xiaogang gathered in a mud hut to sign a secret contract. They thought it might get them executed. Instead, it wound up transforming China’s economy in ways that are still reverberating today.

Greece seems caught between a rock and a hard place, between its private creditors and the EU finance ministers. The private creditors are insisting they cannot agree to a greater voluntary haircut than the one they have offered, whereas the euro zone is saying that offer is not good enough. On Wednesday the country’s private creditors were gathering in Paris to take stock, following the rejection of their final offer by the euro zone ministers. The steering committee of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) was meeting to discuss how to advance the stalled talks as time runs out for Greece.

The majority of young people in Italy are ready to go abroad to work and create their future and an even greater number say they are 'discouraged' over the situation in Italy today, according to a new report from the social research group Eurispes released on Thursday. The possibility of finding employment was the greatest motive for emigrating, for 22.9% of those interviewed, followed by miscellaneous reasons for 14.1% and a lower cost if living for 11.8%.