Stocks nudge up, 401(k) and IRA changes, and more financial news

Stocks rise in last 3 trading days of 2022 – Congress approves 401(k) and IRA changes – America’s richest lost a combined $660 billion in 2022 – Meta and Alphabet (Google ads) losing advertising dominance

Stocks rise in last 3 trading days of 2022

In premarket trading on Wednesday, the S&P 500 notched up 0.3%, while the Dow Jones industrial average rose by a similar margin (or 100 points), and the technology-heavy NASDAQ composite was 0.2%, Yahoo reported.

The benchmark 10-Year Treasury Note was down -0.032 for a yield of 3.826% as of 8:43 AM EST.

The U.S. dollar index was little changed.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were trading just below $80 per barrel.

Tesla shares recovered about 2% in premarket trading after losses on Tuesday that brought the company down some 70% from its November 2021 all-time high.

Congress approves 401(k) and IRA changes

Congress has approved the Secure Act 2.0, a series of new laws that will bring big changes to 401(k) and IRA retirement savers and help them put more money away for their futures. The changes go into effect in 2023 and are part of a $1.7 trillion spending bill Congress passed late last week, Yahoo and Fortune reported.

Some of the dozens of major changes include:

Upping the age of required minimum distributions (RMDs)
Increasing catch-up contributions with limits that will be increased for inflation each year
Allowing unused 529 funds (tax-advantaged savings plan for college expenses) to roll over to a retirement account penalty-free
Catch-up Roth contributions
Roth 401(k) matching
401(k) savings accounts
Emergency 401(k) and IRA withdrawals
401(k) automatic enrollment
A national 401(k) registry
Student loan payment matching to make it easier for workers with student loans to save for retirement

America’s richest lost a combined $660 billion in 2022

Some of the world’s billionaires had a bad year in 2022, losing nearly $2 trillion combined. America’s billionaires lost a combined $660 billion, according to Forbes, CNBC reported.

Individually, Elon Musk was the billionaire who lost the most, seeing his fortune diminished by some $115 billion in 2022 due to his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion and Tesla stock declining by nearly 70% year to date as of December 27.

Other US billionaires losing the most money:

1. Jeff Bezos (Amazon): -$80 billion

2. Mark Zuckerberg (Meta/Facebook): -$78 billion

3. Larry Page (Google): -$40 billion

4. Phil Knight (Nike): -$18.3 billion

5. Leonard Lauder (Estée Lauder): -$9.8 billion

Meta and Alphabet (Google ads) losing advertising dominance

Meta (Facebook ads) and Alphabet (Google ads), the long-held duopoly with a vice-like grip on the $300 billion online advertising market, are beginning to lose their dominance to Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple.

This will be the first year since 2014 that Meta and Alphabet will not hold the majority share of the online advertising market, as the revenues are expected to drop 48.4 percent. This will mark their fifth annual decline, according to Insider Intelligence, Yahoo Finance reported.