Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™: August 2020 observations

As stock markets posted their largest August gain in over 35 years, 401(k) investors were light traders according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index^TM. There was one day of above-normal¹ trading activity and three days of low trading activity. When trades occurred, people traded from equities to fixed income.

August observations:

• On average, 0.016% of 401(k) balances were traded daily
• 19 of 21 days favored fixed income funds

Alight Solutions 401(k) Index statistics for August 2020:

Inflows and outflows during August:

• Trading inflows mainly went to bond funds, stable value funds and self-directed brokerage windows
• Outflows were primarily from large U.S. equity, mid U.S. equity and company stock funds

Asset classes with most trading inflows in August

Asset classes with most trading outflows in August

August investment portfolios:

• After reflecting market movements and trading activity, average asset allocation in equities increased from 65.9% in July to 66.6% in August
• New contributions to equities decreased from 67.5% in July to 67.2% in August

Asset classes with largest percentage of total balance at end of August

Asset classes with most contributions in August

August market observations:

Equity indices finished August with positive returns, while fixed income lost value for the first time this year. Large U.S. equities (represented by the S&P 500 Index) led, up +7.2%, followed by small U.S. equities (represented by the Russell 200 Index) and international equities (represented by the MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index), up +5.6% and +4.3%, respectively. U.S. bonds (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) fell -0.8%.

Returns for common indices

Members of the media: please contact Landis Cullen for questions about the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™.  Learn more about the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ here.