Record highs on Wall Street did little to motivate participant movement in February — and while transfers favored fixed income during the month, international funds also had some allure.
According to Aon Hewitt’s 401(k) Index, which tracks the activity of roughly 1.3 million participants and $160 billion in assets, there were two days of above-normal trading activity in February, with total monthly trading activity amounting to 0.022% of total balances.
Aon Hewitt defines a “normal” level of relative transfer activity as being when the net daily movement of participants’ balances, as a percent of total 401(k) balances within the Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index equals between 0.3 times and 1.5 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months. There were five above-normal trading level days in January, with 0.024% in total balances moving.
In February most outflows came from the following asset classes:
Target-date funds drew just over a third (35%) of new contributions, followed by large U.S. equity funds (18%) and company stock funds (11%).
Aon Hewitt notes that both the S&P 500 Index and the Russell 2000 index, a measure of U.S. small-cap equities, hit all-time highs during the month of February and returned 5.8% and 5.9%, respectively. The MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index gained 5.4%.
According to Aon Hewitt’s 401(k) Index, which tracks the activity of roughly 1.3 million participants and $160 billion in assets, there were two days of above-normal trading activity in February, with total monthly trading activity amounting to 0.022% of total balances.
Aon Hewitt defines a “normal” level of relative transfer activity as being when the net daily movement of participants’ balances, as a percent of total 401(k) balances within the Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index equals between 0.3 times and 1.5 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months. There were five above-normal trading level days in January, with 0.024% in total balances moving.
In February most outflows came from the following asset classes:
- Large U.S. equity funds: 48%
- Company stock funds: 33%
- Small U.S. equity funds: 19%
- GIC/Stable value funds: 26%
- International funds: 26%
- Money market funds: 15%
Target-date funds drew just over a third (35%) of new contributions, followed by large U.S. equity funds (18%) and company stock funds (11%).
Aon Hewitt notes that both the S&P 500 Index and the Russell 2000 index, a measure of U.S. small-cap equities, hit all-time highs during the month of February and returned 5.8% and 5.9%, respectively. The MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index gained 5.4%.
- Log in to post comments