Alight Solutions 401k Index: Second Quarter 2019 Observations

Throughout the second quarter, 401(k) investors traded from equities to fixed income funds, according to the Alight Solutions 401(k) Index^TM. The steady stream of trades in one direction made for the heaviest quarter of net trading since the third quarter of 2016.

Second quarter observations:

Net transfers for the quarter were 0.61% of balances
53 out of 63 trading days in the second quarter had net trading dollars moving from equities to fixed income

Alight Solutions 401(k) Index™ statistics for Q2 2019 and year-to-date:

Index statistics

	Q2 2019	2019 YTD
Total transfers as percentage of starting balance	0.61%	1.10%
# Fixed days	53 (84%)	107 (86%)
# Equity days	10 (16%)	17 (14%)
# Above normal¹ days	7	16

Asset classes with most trading inflows in Q2 2019

	Percentage of inflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Bond funds	55%	$661
Stable value funds	23%	$283
Money market funds	14%	$171

Asset classes with most trading outflows in Q2 2019

	Percentage of outflows	Index dollar value ($ mil)
Large U.S. equity funds	55%	$669
Company stock	23%	$278
International funds	12%	$141

Second quarter market observations:

Despite a dip in the middle of the quarter, most major market indices rose during Q2 2019. Large U.S. equities (represented by S&P 500 Index) were up 4.3%, small U.S. equities (represented by Russell 2000 Index) gained 2.1%, and international equities (represented by MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index) rose by 3.0%. U.S. bonds (represented by Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index) gained 3.1%.

Returns for common indices

	Q2 2019	2019 YTD
Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index	3.1%	6.1%
S&P 500 Index	4.3%	18.5%
Russell 2000 Index	2.1%	17.0%
MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Index (net)	3.0%	13.6%

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.