The Markets

A whitepaper presented by AST Capital Trust with contributions from Hewitt Associates claims the grip is easing on mutual funds’ reign as king of 401(k) plans investments.

The combined assets of U.S. mutual funds increased by $14.37 billion, or 0.1%, to $11.742 trillion in February, according to data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Almost 60% of retirement plan participants responding to a recent survey said they have an asset-allocation investment option in their plan.

Merrill Lynch Global Research has introduced a new global emissions benchmark designed to provide investors with a “clear and balanced insight into the rapidly growing global CO2 emissions...

The FTSE Group and Conflict Securities Advisory Group (CSAG), a research provider in terror-free investment screening and certification services, have launched the FTSE CSAG Terror-Free Index Series.

The equities markets may be on a long-term fritz, but that hasn’t stopped fund investors from taking stock positions in their portfolios, according to new Strategic Insight data.

Standard&Poor’s has announced the launch of two real-time currency indices that provide investors with exposure to emerging economic superpowers that currently lack a liquid currency futures market.

In February, the weak stock market again led 401(k) participants to flee equity investments for fixed income funds, according to the results of the Hewitt 401(k) Index.

Research by The Phoenix Companies finds affluent households invest significantly in both mutual funds and alternatives, and half plan to change their investment allocations in the next year.

A new research paper suggests those considering the addition of target-date funds to a retirement plan need to consider the funds’ glide path and whether the offerings should...

Target-date mutual funds, also called lifecycle funds, are exploding in popularity.

Dow Jones Indexes and Transparent Value LLC have launched the Dow Jones Required Business Performance (RBP) Index series, with indexes that measure the likelihood that a company can...

Standard&Poor's has renamed the sector indices acquired from Goldman Sachs in February 2007 to the S&P North American Sector Indices.

Assets of all exchange-traded funds (ETFs) fell in January by $39.70 billion, or 6.5%, to $568.73 billion, according to data from the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Russell Investments has announced plans to launch global style equity indexes on April 1.

Stock and bond funds experienced net outflows of $22.9 billion in January, according to data from the Financial Research Corporation (FRC).

A new research paper about target-date funds finds that the most effective designs include extended and alternative assets and remain highly diversified for the entire investment horizon.

Dow Jones Indexes has launched the Real Return Target Date Indexes, a series of indexes designed to serve as benchmarks for lifecycle portfolios.

Standard&Poor's launched two new investable Shariah indexes for the Indian equities market - the S&P CNX 500 Shariah and S&P CNX Nifty Shariah.

Fewer than one third of all financial services firms providing products across five investment categories enjoy positive loyalty ratings among advisers who sell their products, according to a...