The Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ statistics for the month of December 2018:
Index statistics |
December |
2018 YTD |
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance |
0.32% |
1.42% |
# Fixed days |
15 (79%) |
155 (62%) |
# Equity days |
4 (21%) |
96 (38%) |
# Above-normal days |
9 |
46 |
Inflows and outflows during the month:
- Trading inflows mainly went to stable value, money market, and bond funds
- Outflows were primarily from target date2, large U.S. equity, and mid U.S. equity funds
Asset classes with most trading inflows in December
|
Percentage of inflows |
Index dollar value ($ mil) |
Stable value funds |
63% |
$398 |
Money market funds |
20% |
$126 |
Bond funds |
15% |
$94 |
Asset classes with most trading outflows in December
|
Percentage of outflows |
Index dollar value ($ mil) |
Target date funds |
40% |
$251 |
Large U.S. equity funds |
30% |
$191 |
Mid U.S. equity funds |
9% |
$57 |
December investment portfolios:
- After reflecting market movements and trading activity, average asset allocation in equities decreased to 66.6% at the end of December from 68.1% at the end of November
- New contributions in equities decreased to 66.7% in December from 67.7% in November
Asset classes with most contributions in December
|
Percentage of contributions |
Index dollar value ($ mil) |
Target date funds |
47% |
$450 |
Large U.S. equity funds |
20% |
$187 |
International funds |
7% |
$69 |
December market observations
December proved to be another difficult month for many equity investors. Small U.S. equities (represented by the Russell 2000 Index) lost -11.9%, large U.S. equities (represented by the S&P 500 Index) lost -9.0%, and international equities (represented by the MSCI ACWI ex-US Index) lost -4.5%. Fixed income investors typically fared better, with the U.S. bond market (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) gaining 1.8%.