Investing

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by one-quarter of a percent, the first raise in nine years.

New research from Strategic Insight shows net redemptions from long-term mutual funds and exchange-traded products totaled $4.8 billion in November.

Partners Group introduces private markets funds for the defined contribution market; Allianz Global Investors launches dynamic target-date collective investment trust series; and more.

 

Ongoing product innovation among insurance providers and asset managers is slowly improving choice for investors hoping to convert DC plan assets to guaranteed income streams.

 

Market and regulatory factors will lead defined benefit plan sponsors to pursue more active strategies and different asset classes.

Institutional investors expect stocks to be the best-performing assets in 2016, according to a new survey report released by Natixis Global Asset Management.

Money market fund reforms are leading plan sponsors to consider alternatives to those investments, MetLife finds.

It’s not just the United States facing demographics-based investment market challenges, according to experts at Prudential Investment Management’s annual market outlook event.

However, among all fund types, there was no increase in ESG use in corporate retirement plans from 2013 to 2015.

Volatility and geopolitical challenges aside, experts at one ERISA-focused law firm are hearing more frequent inquiries from qualified U.S. retirement plans about investing in domestic Chinese markets.

Strategic Insight data shows long-term mutual funds and exchange-traded products secured significantly stronger inflows in October.

The effect of interest rate movements on insurers' portfolios has implications for retirement plan investments.

Global equity returns weighed heavily on the median returns for all plan types in the third quarter, according to Wilshire Associates.

“Understanding how risk factors into your plan can help build financial confidence,” says Marcy Keckler, with Ameriprise Financial.

However, Corporate ERISA plans were the relative best performer among plan types last quarter.

Often, investment jargon is designed to market and not to inform, says Segal Rogerscasey’s CIO Tim Barron.

Fortune 1000 companies with frozen pension plans went conservative in 2014, while open plans took a bit more risk.

University researchers found institutional investors using concentrated investment strategies fared better than more diversified investors.

A white paper discusses some of the ways plan sponsors can put alternative assets into a DC plan.

Several large-volume retirement plan providers have recently published research highlighting strong performance in clients’ managed accounts.