Portfolio

BlackRock has added 10 index funds to its retirement platform, nine of them the target-date BlackRock LifePath Index Portfolios and the 10ths the All Country World Index ex-U.S. Fund. The new LifePath Index Portfolios extend the investment horizon out by 44 years, with the funds having target dates of 2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, 2050 and 2055.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index declined slightly in July to 100.6, down 0.3 percentage points from June’s 100.9. However, from a year ago, the July index is up 4%.

S&P Downgrades DTCC SubsidiariesPrinter Friendly Email Reprints Reader Comments Share | August 8, 2011Chris Kentouris Just hours after it said that Standard & Poor's downgrade on the triple A rating of U.S. government debt would not impact its valuations on collateral, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp was hit with its own downgrade.Like what you see? Click here to sign up for Securities Technology Monitor's weekly newsletter to get the latest news and analysis that matters to the effective operation of capital markets.S&P downgraded its triple-A rating on DTCC's subsidiaries Depository Trust Company, Fixed Income Clearing Corp and National Securities Clearing Corp to double A+, the same as U.S. government debt.The three organizations are critical to the U.S. financial market: DTC is the U.S. central depository system which settles U.S. equity and fixed income transactions while FICC and NSCC clear those transactions. In 2010 alone, DTC settled nearly $1.66 quadrillion worth of trades.S&P's decision to downgrade DTCC and its subsidiaries was pretty much expected based on the rating agency's announcement on Friday evening. S&P made it clear that its move to downgrade U.S. government debt could affect insurers, mortgage agencies and securities clearinghouses. At the time S&P characterized the target organizations as "entities with direct links to, or reliance on, the federal government."In a statement issued on Monday morning DTCC downplayed the impact of S&P's downgrade. "We do not anticipate any changes in our operations as a result of this revision of our credit rating," said DTCC. The market-owned utility also cited comments made by S&P that the ratings downgrade of its depository and clearinghouses did not reflect a change in S&P's view of the "fundamental soundness" of DTC or the clearinghouses but incorporate "potential incremental shifts in the macroeconomic and long term stability of the U.S. capital markets as a consequence of the decline in the creditworthiness of the federal government."Prior to the downgrade today, DTC and NSCC had received S&P's Triple A rating for nine consecutive years and FICC for siJust hours after it said that Standard & Poor's downgrade on the triple A rating of U.S. government debt would not impact its valuations on collateral, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. was hit with its own downgrade.S&P downgraded its triple-A rating on DTCC's subsidiaries Depository Trust Company, Fixed Income Clearing Corp. and National Securities Clearing Corp. to double A+, the same as U.S. government debt.

Securian Retirement has added 12 investment choices to its retirement platform, including funds from AllianceBernstein, Nuveen, Manning & Napier and Pax World. With these additions, the platform how offers an array of 120 investments for participants and plan sponsors.

Maybe the Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign debt rating is roiling markets and causing China to double down on efforts to diversify its massive cash hoard away from U.S. dollar holdings, but last week's resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis has been good news for the money market fund industry.

Making estate planning decisions can sometimes bring up uncomfortable topics for clients, but Holly Thomas, the founder of Holly P. Thomas, LLC, in Tampa, Fla., said it's a vital part of any financial plan.

Hold on to your hat. We may be headed for a double-dip recession. In fact, when more current economic data arrives a few months from now, it may turn out that we're already in one, according to a pair of economists at Moody's Capital Markets Research Group.

A majority, 63%, of middle-class Americans thinks that the U.S. is in a doubledip recession, the First Command Financial Behaviors Index shows, up from 50% who thought the U.S. had reverted back into recession last summer.

Taking Stock: Northern Trust, BlackRock Say Little ChangedPrinter Friendly Email Reprints Reader Comments Share | August 8, 2011Tom Steinert-ThrelkeldAs securities markets in the United States prepare to open widely lower Monday morning, Northern Trust and BlackRock each said that the decision by the Standard & Poor’s bond ratings agency to downgrade U.S. Treasury debt for the first time would not affect their views of the U.S. bond market or the solvency of the U.S. government.Like what you see? Click here to sign up for Securities Technology Monitor's weekly newsletter to get the latest news and analysis that matters to the effective operation of capital markets.Chief Investment Officer Bob Browne said Northern Trust has no plans to sell U.S. Treasuries as a result of the downgrade.“Northern Trust does not see any fundamentally new information in the downgrade about the state of the U.S. economy and the country’s capacity to pay its debt,” said Browne.Using credit default swaps as a guide, U.S. beats Wal-Mart.Underscoring Mr. Browne’s position, Northern Trust’s Chief Investment Strategist, Jim McDonald, last week released a research commentary in which he analyzed the deal to raise the government debt ceiling and the political environment that created it. McDonald noted that U.S. fiscal problems, if left unaddressed, were likely to manifest themselves through a weaker dollar rather than higher bond yields. The U.S. government’s financial strength still remained higher than that of almost any other nation and of major corporations, including Wal-Mart (see chart).Northern Trust investment experts believe that growth and inflation expectations will determine U.S. bond yields over the next few years much more than the level of deficits.“Looking globally, S&P downgraded Japan to AA- in January of this year; that country's bond yields have declined since then and remain substantially below those of the United States," Browne said.With regard to money market funds, Browne noted that short-term ratings of the U.S. remain unchanged by S&P, remaining at A1+, the highest level. A Northern Trust report can be found here.BlackRock, in a statement, said the downgrade of U.S. sovereign credit by S&P“reflects facts that have been well known to the market for some time. So, it does not imply a fundamental increase in risk, and we don’t believe that investors should change their behavior based solely on the downgrade. However, in combination with continued economic weakness and regulatory uncertainty, this may provide a signal to some investors to reassess their risk appetite.”BlackRock said it had been preparing for the possibility of downgrade over the past month, and, the firm has no need to execute any “forced selling of securities” in response to the S&P downgrade.BlackRock said it also is prepared for “continued downgrades into next week of the many other issuers and issues that derive their rating from the U.S. government rating – including governmental entities and corporate issues.Weakness in labor markets, when combined with only modest levels of growth, argues for a high likelihood that the Federal Reserve will maintain its Fed Funds policy range at historically accommodative levels for at least another year and perhaps through 2012, BlackRock said.BlackRock said:Nonetheless, we think it is vital to underscore the fact that the U.S. Treasury sector remains the largest and most liquid fixed income market in the world with the greatest degree of price transparency and few genuine alternatives.As securities markets in the United States prepare to open widely lower Monday morning, Northern Trust and BlackRock each said that the decision by the Standard & Poor’s bond ratings agency to downgrade U.S. Treasury debt for the first time would not affect their views of the U.S. bond market or the solvency of the U.S. government.

Consumer confidence, as measured by the Discover U.S. Spending Monitor, fell for the second straight month in July, to its lowest level in two years. Since January, the monitor, based on a daily poll of 8,200 consumers, has dropped 11 points, to 82.7.