Interest rates
Rethinking capital market expectations
The financial crisis of 2007-'09 presented challenges to investors, but it was the official response to that crisis that has truly turned the world upside down.
May 03, 2012 | 12:01 am
Fed no friend of DB plans
The quote: “The faster I run, the behinder I get” is certainly true for the nation's 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans.
April 30, 2012
Federal Reserve: At least 2 years of ultra-low rate
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced it will keep the federal funds rate within a zero to 0.25% target range for at least two years, echoing a decision made after the Federal Open Market...
April 25, 2012 | 01:29 pm
Currency risk emerges as a major driver of returns
Currency risk — which already packs a punch as part of any emerging markets investment portfolio — could become an even larger source of returns in the future, according to money managers.
April 16, 2012
Big bond investors seeing QE3 on the horizon
Bill Gross, Jeffrey Gundlach and Dan Fuss, whose firms collectively oversee about $1.5 trillion, expect the Federal Reserve to conduct a third round of bond purchases as signs of strength in the U.S. ...
April 13, 2012 | 01:50 pm
Brevan Howard allegedly asked RBS to change LIBOR
Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, a $33 billion hedge fund, asked Royal Bank of Scotland Plc to change the London interbank offered rate five years ago, according to a trader suing the bank for...
March 30, 2012 | 09:49 am
Tax reform could shrink 401(k) balances, EBRI says
Reducing current tax preferences for employment-based 401(k) retirement plans could decrease individual participant account balances as much as 22%, according to new research from the Employee...
March 20, 2012 | 05:39 pm
Pension funding changes could offer some relief
Providing funding relief for corporate pension plans sounds reasonable enough that even the AFL-CIO is cautiously behind the idea of a Senate proposal included in the highway funding bill passed last ...
March 19, 2012
Federal Reserve votes to maintain low rate
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday announced it will keep the federal funds rate within a zero to 0.25% target range for at least two years, expecting “moderate economic growth over the coming...
March 13, 2012 | 04:20 pm
Ford’s U.S. pension plans hit by declining interest rates
Ford Motor Co.’s funding level for its U.S. pension plans declined in 2011, as declining interest rates boosted the value of plan liabilities.
February 23, 2012 | 04:18 pm
Ford has better idea for full funding: Cut plan risk, reduce equity exposure
Ford Motor Co. is lowering risk of its pension plans, a strategy that includes making an outsize discretionary contribution that could mean gaining a better return for its corporate cash than keeping ...
February 06, 2012
UTIMCO trustee urges endowment to hold gold hedge
Kyle Bass, the Dallas hedge fund manager, urged overseers of Texas' state university endowment, the University of Texas Investment Management Co., to stick with a $1 billion investment in gold...
February 03, 2012 | 09:54 am
Federal Reserve keeps rates low through 2014
Federal Reserve on Wednesday announced it will keep the federal funds rate within a zero to 0.25% target for at least two years and will continue reinvesting principal from its securities holdings.
January 25, 2012 | 01:28 pm
Callan: U.S. bonds see best returns in 2011
Domestic fixed income had the best year of all asset classes in a year of significant volatility, according to the Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns 1992-2011.