The Markets

Plunging discount rates drove up pension liabilities in June, swamping asset improvement and capping a bad second quarter. 

Assets are slated to expand from $2.3 trillion at the end of 2011 to $3.5 trillion, Strategic Insight projects.

 Total alternative assets managed on behalf of pension funds by the top 100 managers (ranked by pension fund assets) was $1.2 trillion in 2011.

New pension rules may provide relief for underfunded pension plans, but they can also increase risk, according to Karin Franceries of J.P. Morgan Asset Management.

The funded status of the typical U.S. corporate pension plan rebounded 1.8 percentage points to 71.6% in June, according to the BNY Mellon Pension Summary Report.

Contribution activity could remain above the minimum requirement despite a bill that gives defined benefit (DB) plan sponsors funding relief, a report contends.  

Investor confidence softened somewhat in the second quarter, according to the Investor Sentiment Index, released Monday by John Hancock Financial Services.  

Defined contribution (DC) plan participants transferred monies from equities into fixed-income investments as the stock markets dropped substantially during...

The looming fiscal cliff has investors scurrying for safe harbor, Prudential’s investment strategists said at their Midyear Global Markets and Economic Outlook.

Russell Investments released its newly reconstituted Global Indexes following its annual index reconstitution late last week, benchmarking about $3.9 trillion in assets.   

Some plan sponsors are hesitant to implement an in-plan guaranteed retirement income solution for the same reasons others are in favor of it.   

More than six in 10 target-date funds (63.6%) surveyed by Callan employ a glidepath managed “through” retirement.

April was the first month this year that the net direction of 401(k) participant transfers moved back toward fixed income.

Long-term mutual funds recorded their smallest monthly intake year to date in May, with $14.1 billion in new assets.  

A simplified retirement plan menu is best for plan participants and sponsors, panelists at the 2012 PLANSPONSOR National Conference agreed.

Retirement plan participants need investment advice, and from the right place, according to panelists at the 2012 PLANSPONSOR National Conference.

Investors put $14 billion in net inflows into stock and bond mutual funds in the U.S. in May.

U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw roughly $2 billion in net inflows in May.

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets decreased $67.4 billion, or 5.7%, in May.

“We stand at a crossroads in the [retirement plan] industry,” said David Musto, chief executive at J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services.