Showing entries with the topic “Investments”.
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Jan 2020Chart of the Month: U.S. Equity Performance Continues to Outpace the Rest of the World
The deviation between the performance of U.S. equity versus the rest of the world continues to increase. With the relative performance differential at an extreme, when will international stocks stage a comeback?
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Dec 2019The Top Retirement Plan Trends for 2020
With the holiday season upon us and the New Year fast approaching, it is time to consider what 2020 may bring for retirement plan sponsors. We explore some of the retirement plan trends that are likely to be popular next year.
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Dec 2019Chart of the Month: Wage Growth Eclipses Mortgage Rates for the First Time Since the 1970’s
Wages for production and non-supervisory employees rose 3.8% over the last twelve months, eclipsing mortgage rates for the first time since the 1970s. Will the rising wages and low interest rates be enough to reignite the housing industry with home prices near all-time highs?
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Nov 2019Case Study: Making a Strong Plan Stronger
SRC, a not-for-profit research and development organization, set out to improve their retirement plan benefit, ultimately reducing administrative costs by 54%, streamlining the investment lineup and improving employee communication and education - all without converting recordkeepers
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Nov 2019The Fiduciary Breach Lawsuits: Lessons Learned
Over the past few months, we launched an in-depth exploration into the claims of the fiduciary breach lawsuits. We highlight the issues, the litigation outcomes and the key take-aways for retirement plan sponsors in a recap of the series.
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Nov 2019Chart of the Month: Duration of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index
Source: PIMCO, Bloomberg Market Observations The Bloomberg Barclays U.S. bond index is a widely used benchmark that most institutional investors, asset managers and investment consultants use to track the performance of the investment-grade bond market. Since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, there …
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Oct 2019Are Negative Interest Rates Coming to the U.S.?
Negative interest rates were originally intended to help boost an ailing European economy and have become widespread. Is it only a matter of time before the U.S. gets sucked into the global trend of negative yielding debt?
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Oct 2019Chart of the Month: U.S. 10-Year Treasury Yields Move Inline with Deteriorating Fundamentals
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Investing.com Market Observations A dominant theme for financial markets in 2019 has been the sharp decline in global bond yields, particularly here in the U.S. After hitting a high of 3.25% last October, the 10-year Treasury yield now stands at just 1.…
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Sep 2019Chart of the Month: The Probability of a Recession in the Next 12 Months is Rising
While U.S. growth has been remarkably resilient to trade uncertainty, low inflation, and slower global growth, a probability model used by the N.Y. Fed to calculate the odds of a recession in the next 12 months has risen substantially in recent months.
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Sep 2019Case Study: Focused on Fees, Fairness, and the Future
Learn how WPI's focus on reducing fees, fairly allocating costs, and structuring their plan thoughtfully has helped to position their employees for successful retirements.
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