Michael Townsend
As Managing Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, Michael is Charles Schwab’s Washington-based political analyst. With more than 27 years of Washington experience, he analyzes legislative, regulatory and political developments to determine how they would affect individual investors, retirement plan participants and investment advisers.
With the midterm elections in the rearview mirror, Congress returned to Washington for a busy lame-duck session to resolve some key issues. Meanwhile, regulators continued their breakneck pace, unveiling a daunting set of rule proposals that would create additional compliance burdens for advisor firms. Here's a roundup of what advisors need to know.
This report is current as of August 12, 2022
Congress continues to struggle with bitter partisan divisions that will likely only worsen as we head toward this fall's midterm elections. But rare moments of bipartisanship have cropped up in recent weeks.
As the country enters the final countdown to the election, interest in the outcome seems to have hit an all-time high. The intense election atmosphere, combined with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a controversial Supreme Court confirmation process, high unemployment, and a worrisome economic outlook, is feeding investor anxiety and elevating the prospect for market volatility.
