The Markets

The John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index score improved in the fourth quarter of 2011 from the annual low measured in the year’s third quarter.

Plan sponsors are not fully knowledgeable of their plan administrative fees.

Institutional investment managers are gaining confidence in the U.S. economy, according to a quarterly survey conducted by Northern Trust.

Education was chief among priorities for plan sponsors and advisers in 2011, according to Kevin Crain, head of institutional retirement and benefit services for Bank Of America Merrill...

ETF flows topped $19 billion in December 2011.  

Milliman, Inc’s latest Pension Funding Index shows that in December, pensions experienced a $59.7 billion decrease in pension funded status.

The year 2011 was packed with market surprises from natural disasters to ratings downgrades to cultural revolutions.

The Advisor Confidence Index (ACI), a benchmark that gauges adviser views on the U.S. economy and stock market, ended the year on a slight decline from November to...

Investors should expect another turbulent year of market volatility caused by a mix of heightened policy risk, political uncertainty, low growth and low interest rates. 

November was another "risk-off" month for mutual fund investors with $6.3 billion in long-term outflows, according to data from Morningstar.

Seventy percent of investment managers expect a similar level of volatility as in 2011 to continue through 2012.

The U.S. mutual fund industry is on track for $80 billion in net inflows for the year; more than $100 billion less than 2010 or 2009.

 The Callan DC Index suffered a loss of 11.45% in the third quarter of 2011.   

J.P. Morgan Asset Management released assumptions in regards to the long-term capital market returns.  

Towers Watson believes that stable value investors should be aware of a few shifts brought on by a combination of an underlying structural change and recent economic stress.  

Sixty-three percent of investment managers surveyed by SEI at its annual CFO Forum for Alternative Investment Managers are optimistic about their firm’s prospects over the next three years. 

A report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College suggests that for corporate pension plans, the potential diversification benefits from investing in alternative investments may be...

Defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors claim to have a higher level of confidence regarding their target-date fund offerings compared to a year ago, according to Janus Capital Group. 

Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company, said U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced $19 billion in net inflows in October alone.

Thanks to demand for taxable bond funds, U.S. stock and bond mutual funds saw net inflows of $1.1 billion in October.