Diversions April 12, 2012

‘Secretaries’ Return to the Workplace

The number of administrative professionals with the word "secretary" in their job titles is on the rise.
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The increase was noted in a  survey by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) in a shift that marks a reversal of popularity for a job title that has been in decline for at least 20 years.

For the last 20 years, secretaries had been increasingly known as executive or administrative assistants, going the way of the stewardess (rebranded as flight attendant) and the gardener (landscape artist).

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The growing number of admins with “secretary” in their job titles is one of the business trends seen in IAAP’s Administrative Professional Skills Benchmarking Survey. Every two years, the association gathers data from members about job titles, responsibilities, salaries, job satisfaction, technology and other issues. More than 3,300 admins participated.

Though the top two job titles for IAAP members were executive assistant (29%) and administrative assistant (25%), the third most common title was administrative secretary (7%)—the first time in several years that administrative secretary made it into the top three. In fact, the number of admins with “secretary” in their titles nearly doubled in two years, from 8% to nearly 15%.

If in fact there are more secretaries, it might be the “Mad Men” effect: AMC’s series may stoke nostalgia for the classic image of the American corporate secretary, IAAP theorized.

The Markets April 11, 2012

U.S. Equity Funds End Inflows Streak in March

 U.S. mutual fund investors cautiously put an estimated $13 billion in net inflows into stock and bond funds during March 2012. 
Reported by

This marked a sharp drop from February, when investors put net $46 billion in flows into long-term funds, according to Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company.

Aggregate equity mutual fund flows were a negative $2 billion in March; this was offset by net inflows of about $15 billion into bond funds. In total, long-term mutual funds experienced $96 billion of net inflows in 2012’s first quarter—a significant improvement over the previous quarter, which saw $23 billion in net outflows from long-term funds. It was also up from the $87 billion in net inflows in the first quarter of 2011.

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In March, domestic equity funds ended their two-month streak of net inflows by posting net outflows of $7.5 billion. The net outflows occurred despite another month of positive stock market returns; the average U.S. equity fund gained 2% on an asset-weighted basis in March, and the S&P 500 Index generated a 12.6% total return in the first quarter of 2012 (the index’s best first quarter since 1998).

Meanwhile, international and global equity funds saw net inflows of just over $5 billion in March, led by flows into global allocation and diversified emerging markets stock funds.

“Investor confidence remains fragile, as evidenced by the swift downturn in U.S. equity fund flows after two months of modest inflows. The optimism on Wall Street has yet to reach Main Street,”  said Avi Nachmany, SI’s director of research. “There is no shortage of issues to worry about, including the economy, rising gasoline prices, and geopolitical tensions. So, we expect investors to continue to be cautious, and the near term may prove more favorable for bond funds than stock funds.”
 

 

(Cont...)

Taxable bond funds saw net inflows of $12 billion in March, as investors continued to use bond funds as income-producing alternatives to money market funds, CDs, and bank deposit accounts. Intermediate- and short-term bond funds led March’s flow. For the first quarter, taxable bond funds saw net inflows of $67 billion, far outpacing the $40.5 billion that went into taxable bond funds in 2011’s first quarter. Muni bond funds enjoyed net inflows of nearly $4 billion, as fears of widespread municipal defaults continued to fade.

Money-market funds saw net outflows of $69 billion in March, compared with net outflows of just $3 billion in February. Ultra-low yields continued to hamper demand for money market funds—a trend that resulted in net outflows of $116 billion in 2012’s first quarter,

Separately, SI said U.S. Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) enjoyed $10 billion in net inflows in March 2012. That brought total ETF net inflows to $53 billion for the first quarter of 2012—almost double the $27 billion in net inflows to ETFs in the first quarter of 2011, and a pace that could result in the sixth straight year of $100 billion or more in net inflows to U.S. ETFs.

March’s ETF flows were led by ETFs tracking the S&P 500, including $2.8 billion that went into the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. After those products, the most popular ETF categories in March were intermediate-term bond and diversified emerging markets equities, each of which drew about $1.4 billion in net inflows. “ETFs’ flexibility, including the ability to go long or short, has helped sustain net inflows across a variety of asset classes,” said Loren Fox, a senior research analyst at SI. “We expect continued, broad-based growth of ETFs.”

At the end of March 2012, U.S. ETF assets (including ETNs) stood at a record $1.21 trillion, up from $1.06 trillion at the end of December.

 

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