Another Objection to DOL’s ESG Proposal
The Department of Labor's recent move to chill the use of "Environmental, Social and Governance" investments in retirement plans has drawn broad criticism--including this comment from the Wagner Law...
Mutual funds
Investors flee to bonds: Morningstar
'As evidence of investors' lack of enthusiasm for U.S. equities, a record $27.8 billion flowed out of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF,' the fund research firm reported.
“Buffered” ETFs for sensitive stomachs
Like registered index-linked annuities (aka structured annuities), Innovator's Defined Outcome ETFs use options to generate a customized range of returns based on the movement of an equity index.
Investors pump money into bonds: Morningstar
Vanguard holds more than a fourth of all long-term assets, up from 10% in 2000, according to Morningstar's fund flows report for January, written by senior analyst Tony Thomas,...
2019 was a remarkable year for passive large-cap funds: Morningstar
'The strong long-term inflows in both December and for all of 2019 were due almost entirely to record inflows for both taxable-bond and municipal-bond funds,' the fund data giant...
Next-gen funds will be active/passive hybrids: Cerulli
Demand is up for strategies that perform like actively managed funds but with lower fees, such as smart beta and 'active' exchange-traded funds (ETFs), said a Cerulli analyst.
Investors flock to low-yield money funds
Though the Fed's target rate has dropped 75 basis points since July 31, money market funds collected $220.9 bn during the next three months. Long-term funds collected just $57.2...
Fidelity’s brokerage claims industry price leadership
New commission changes take effect on October 10, 2019 for individual investors and will be available on November 4, 2019 for registered investment advisors, a Fidelity release said.
Investors fond of bonds so far in 2019
'Retail investors remain skeptical of the ferocious stock market rally early this year,' said David Santschi, director of liquidity research for TrimTabs. 'While bond mutual funds are drawing big...
A Genuine ‘Value Fund’ Is Hard to Find
"Even if the fund says ‘value,’ there’s no likelihood that it’s a value fund,” said Martin Lettau of UC-Berkeley, co-author of a study showing that Dimensional's value funds may...
Trim Tabs notes ‘Powell put’
'After pulling record sums from equity mutual funds in December, mom and pop investors have turned into net buyers in January,' according to new data from the West Coast...
Aging boomers drive flows into fixed income
Advisors are focused on downside risk protection and they commonly use taxable fixed income (83%) and municipal fixed income (74%) to achieve the objective for clients, said Cerulli Associates.
iShares collect $36.1 billion in December: Morningstar
iShares ETFs gathered more than triple the inflows of runner-up Vanguard's $11.4 billion last month. Vanguard still came out ahead for 2018 with nearly $161 billion in inflows to...
Flight from active to passive funds and ETFs slowed in September: Morningstar
Among all U.S. open-end mutual funds and ETFs, Fidelity Advisor Growth & Income saw the most inflows of all active strategies at $1.8 billion, the fund's highest inflows in a...
Fidelity Launches Two More Zero-Expense Funds
Fidelity now offers four zero expense ratio index funds: Zero Large-Cap Index, Zero Extended Market Index, Zero Total Market Index and Zero Total International Index funds.
June was a ‘risk-off’ month for equities: Morningstar
‘With the global population aging and many investors focused on capital preservation, equity demand among fundholders remains tepid,’ said the Morningstar Direct Asset Flow report for June.
Outflows from global equity funds continues: TrimTabs
Despite the harsh rhetoric about China from President Trump, China-focused equity funds are on track for their sixteenth consecutive monthly inflow.
Vanguard pulls S&P500 fund from its own 401(k)
'The current problem with the Index 500 fund is that over 25% of the fund is in technology stocks,' a former Vanguard employee told the local press.
In fund sales, Vanguard leads but BlackRock’s gaining
Vanguard had $12.3 bn in inflows in April. But BlackRock’s iShares eclipsed that figure with about $17 bn. Vanguard’s year-to-date growth continues to slow year over year.
Fund flows bounce back in March: Morningstar
The Morningstar Categories with the highest inflows in March were foreign large-blend, ultra-short bond, and intermediate bond funds, respectively.
