Alight Solutions 401k Index: March 2018 Observations

Despite a volatile stock market, 401(k) trading activity was light in March according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™. March saw a consistent movement away from equities, with 16 of the 21 days favoring fixed income funds but only two days of above-normal¹ trading activity.

March observations:

March saw two moderately high days of trading activity along the first low trading day of 2018
On average, 0.014% of balances were traded daily

The Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ statistics for the month of March 2018:

Index statistics

	March	2018 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.17%	0.43%
# Fixed days	16 (76%)	29 (48%)
# Equity days	5 (24%)	32 (53%)
# Above normal days	2	23

Inflows and outflows during the month:

Trading inflows mainly went to stable value, bond, and money market funds
Outflows were primarily from target date², large U.S. equity, and international funds

Asset classes with most trading inflows in March

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Bond funds	50%	$169
Stable value funds	32%	$107
Money market funds	16%	$53

Asset classes with most trading outflows in March

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	37%	$125
Large U.S. equity funds	33%	$111
International funds	10%	$35

March investment portfolios:

At the end of March, 68.4% of balances were invested in equities, down from 68.9% at the end of February
68.7% of new contributions were invested in equities at the end of March, up from 68.1% in February

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

	Percentage of balance	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	28%	$55,482
Large U.S. equity funds	24%	$47,991
Stable value funds	10%	$20,393

Asset classes with most contributions in March

	Percentage of contribution	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Target date funds	28%	$55,482
Large U.S. equity funds	24%	$47,991
International funds	10%	$20,393

March market observations

Capital market returns were mixed during the month, with small U.S. equities (represented by the Russell 2000 Index) and U.S. bonds (represented by the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) gaining in value, and large U.S. and international equities (represented by the S&P 500 Index and MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index, respectively) declining in value.

Returns for common indices

	March	2018 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	0.69%	-1.5%
S&P 500 Index	-2.5%	-0.8%
Russell 2000 Index	1.3%	-0.1%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	-1.8%	-1.2%

Members of the media: please contact MacKenzie Lucas 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.

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