The Markets

Since the Department of Labor issued its regulations on qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs), target-date funds have been favored as a QDIA selection for plan sponsors.

Participants in 401(k) plans invested in mutual funds paid slightly higher expense ratios in 2009, according to an annual report by the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Assets in the exchange-traded funds (ETF) space fell $21.8 billion to $800 billion in August, down 2.7%, according to the latest data from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA).

An analysis from kasina finds that while asset management firms' operating and net margins vary wildly, overall industry margins have come down.

Exchange‐traded fund (ETF) assets are expected to achieve an annual growth rate of nearly 19% between 2010 and 2014, according to Financial Research Corporation’s (FRC’s) newly released Mid‐Year 2010...

 The relentless march of 401(k) assets out of equities into fixed income continued unabated in August, according to the latest results of the Hewitt 401(k) Index.

Exchange-traded funds posted net outflows totaling roughly $1.3 billion August, ending a six-month streak of consecutive monthly inflows, according to Morningstar Direct’s Fund Flows Update.

Long-term fund flows increased by more than 11% in August versus July, and once again the lion's share went to fixed-income funds, according to the Morningstar Direct Fund...

Driven by ongoing demand for bond funds, U.S. mutual fund investors added about $20 billion in net new cash to U.S. stock and bond mutual funds in August...

The Principal has made another distribution from its frozen real estate fund – and a significant one at that. 

Callan Associates reports that the Callan DC Index’s second-quarter performance was its worst since the fourth quarter of 2008.

By collaborating with WisdomTree Investments, Advisors Asset Management (AAM) will now offer advisers a wider array of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as part of their investment solutions.

A Fidelity Investments study finds that less than a third of investors who are newly eligible to complete a Roth IRA conversion are aware of the flexibility they...

 As rough a month as August was for the markets – and this one was the worst since 2001 - September has a tendency to be even rougher.

Caterpillar Inc. said management, support and other nonunion employees in the U.S. will switch from a defined benefit pension plan to a 401(k) plan beginning in 2011.

With the renewed emphasis on investment risk management and portfolio diversification driven by the down economy, Cerulli Associates predicts international/global fixed income will be the next big product...

Despite the market rally, the direction of the total transfers in July remained fixed income-oriented, according to the results of the Hewitt 401(k) Index. 

July saw investors put $7.5 billion into U.S. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), according to Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company.