Finance

Goldman Sachs’ new downside protection ETF

Published

2 months ago

March 15, 2025

Business Finance News

Protect your portfolio from market volatility with these new ETFs

Goldman Sachs Asset Management is trying to serve more investors looking for downside protection from market turmoil.

Bryon Lake helped the firm launch its newest buffer exchange-traded fund this month: the Goldman Sachs U.S. Large Cap Buffer 3 ETF.

“I’m an investor. You’re an investor. The folks watching are investors, and there’s an incredible amount of uncertainty right now: Tariffs, the widening out of equity markets away from Mag 7 [and] geopolitical issues,” the Goldman Sachs chief transformation officer told anchor Bob Pisani on CNBC’s “ETF Edge.”

Lake joined Goldman Sachs last summer. According to the firm’s press release, it was for a newly created role aimed at expanding its investment strategies. Previously, Lake headed the global ETF business at JPMorgan Chase

“The buffer products are designed to help protect people to the downside while also allowing them to participate to the upside,” he said. “The way they’re designed, is they’ll protect from down 5% to 15% while still allowing you to participate upwards of 5% to 7%. And, then those reset on a quarterly basis.”

Lake suggests the buffer ETFs use approaches that have strong track records.

“These are… tried and true strategies that have been used by investors for decades now,” he said.

The Goldman Sachs U.S. Large Cap Buffer 3 ETF is down about 3% since it started trading on March 4. The S&P 500 is off almost 4% in the same time frame.

Finance

Insiders at UnitedHealth are scooping up tarnished shares

Published

34 minutes ago

May 16, 2025

Business Finance News

Key Points

UnitedHealth Group saw some of its insiders step in and purchase declining shares this week.
Kristen Gil, a director at the firm, bought 3,700 shares worth roughly $1 million on Thursday.
Shares of UnitedHealth plunged nearly 11% to $274.35 on Thursday following a report in The Wall Street Journal that the Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation into possible Medicare fraud.

Finance

Federal Reserve will reduce staff by 10% in coming years, Powell memo says

Published

2 hours ago

May 16, 2025

Business Finance News

U.S. Federal Reserve in Washington, DC, on January 30, 2024.

Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images

The Federal Reserve will look to reduce its headcount by 10% over the next couple of years, including offering deferred resignation to some older employees, central bank chair Jerome Powell said in a memo.

“Experience here and elsewhere shows that it is healthy for any organization to periodically take a fresh look at its staffing and resources. The Fed has done that from time to time as our work, priorities, or external environment have changed,” Powell said in a memo obtained by CNBC.

The central bank chief added that he has instructed leaders throughout the Fed “to find incremental ways to consolidate functions where appropriate, modernize some business practices, and ensure that we are right-sized and able to meet our statutory mission.” One method for shrinking the staff will be to offer a voluntary deferred resignation program to employees of the Federal Reserve Board who would be fully eligible to retire at the end of 2027.

The central bank said in its 2023 annual report that it had just under 24,000 employees. A 10% reduction would bring that number below 22,000.

The memo comes as the Trump administration has pushed for cost cuts across civil service agencies, spearheaded by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Musk has previously called the Fed “absurdly overstaffed.” Powell’s memo did not mention Musk or DOGE as a factor in the decision to shrink headcount.

The planned staff cuts were first reported by Bloomberg News.

— CNBC’s Matt Cuddy contributed reporting.