The Markets

In March 2013, the nation's largest corporate defined benefit pension plans showed a $29 billion increase in funded status.

In the first quarter of 2013, investors added $184.3 billion to long-term open-end mutual funds while redeeming $92.8 billion from money market funds, according to Morningstar.

The past few years have seen a steady increase in real estate investments, according to Chuck Schreiber Jr., chief executive of KBS Realty Advisors.

Most defined contribution plan participants were content to stay put with their investments in March, according to the Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index.

The downward trend in average expense ratios paid by investors in mutual funds continued during 2012, says a report from the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Stock and bond mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) set an all-time quarterly flows record in the first quarter of 2013 of $246 billion. 

Investment managers grew more optimistic about the U.S. economy in the first quarter of 2013, according to a survey from Northern Trust.

The economic outlook is better than investors might think, according to OppenheimerFunds.

U.S. investors said they have just 11% on average of their income-producing assets invested internationally.

Institutional investors and registered investment advisers (RIAs) are increasingly using business development company (BDC) stocks, according to a source.

U.S. investors who missed the four-year rally could be ready to return to market, according to BNY Mellon.

Strengthening of the U.S. economy makes a case for expanding equity exposure, a PLANADVISER keynote speaker said.

Smart beta is an ideal way for investors to access the best aspects of market diversity at modest cost and governance, according to Towers Watson.

Asset allocation, liquidity, absolute returns—they’re like gears in a watch built for the investor, but they don’t help them understand how to tell time, a source at Russell...

The relative attractiveness of annuitizing pension liabilities was virtually unchanged in February.

Stock and bond mutual funds are on track to set an all-time quarterly flows record, nearing $200 billion, in the first quarter of 2013.

Address market challenges, embrace innovation and take the lead in improving retirement policy, said Robert L. Reynolds, president and chief executive of Putnam Investments.

Institutional market influence was most prominent within the equity exchange-traded fund (ETF) space in 2012, according to Strategic Insight, an Asset International company.

Socially responsible investing (SRI) has not yet hit the mainstream, but perhaps that is because of the myths about SRI that still exist.

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets increased by $1.3 billion, or 0.1%, in February.