Alight Solutions 401k Index: April 2019 Observations

401(k) traders continued to retreat towards safety throughout April, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index. April marked the 15th month in a row where net trades favored fixed income funds over equity investments.

April observations:

On average, 0.014% of 401(k) balances were traded daily
19 of 21 days favored fixed income funds

The Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ statistics for the month of April 2019:

Index statistics	April	2019 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.18%	0.64%
# Fixed days	19 (90%)	73 (89%)
# Equity days	2 (10%)	9 (11%)
# Above-normal days	2	11

Inflows and outflows during the month:

Trading inflows mainly went to bond, international, and target date funds²
Outflows were primarily from large U.S. equity funds, company stock, and small U.S. equity funds

Asset classes with most trading inflows in April

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Bond funds	63%	$227
International funds	11%	$39
Target date funds	10%	$38

Asset classes with most trading outflows in April

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Large U.S. equity funds	47%	$170
Company stock	35%	$127
Small U.S. equity funds	13%	$46

April investment portfolios:

After reflecting market movements and trading activity, average asset allocation in equities increased from 67.9% in March to 68.2% in April
New contributions in equities decreased to 67.9% at the end of April from 68.3% at the end of March

Asset classes with largest percentage of total at end of April

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date² funds	29%	$61,325
Large U.S. equity funds	26%	$54,592
Stable value funds	10%	$21,136

Asset classes with most contributions in April

	Percentage of contribution	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	47%	$549
Large U.S. equity funds	20%	$240
International funds	7%	$82

April market observations:

April saw positive performance for all the common indices. The U.S. bond market (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) ticked just above 0.0%. Large U.S. equities (represented by S&P 500 Index) rose 4.1%, small U.S. equities (represented by the Russell 2000 Index) rose 3.4%, and international equities (represented by the MSCI ACWI ex-U.S. Index) gained 2.6%.

Returns for common indices

	April	2019 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index0.0	0.0%	3.0%
S&P 500 Index	4.1%	18.3%
Russell 2000 Index	3.4%	18.5%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	2.6%	13.2%

Members of the media: please contact Dominic Belmonte for questions about the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™.

Learn more about the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ here.

A “normal” level of relative transfer activity is when the net daily movement of participants’ balances as a percent of total 401(k) balances within the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ equals between 0.3 times and 1.5 times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months. A “high” relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement exceeds two times the average daily net activity. A “moderate” relative transfer activity day is when the net daily movement is between 1.5 and two times the average daily net activity of the preceding 12 months.
Target date funds also include the amounts in target risk funds. The amount in the target risk funds is less than 10% of the total.