Based on the latest treasury yield movements, investors are bracing for a recession. Yields on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note have fallen by around 83 basis points from their October high of 4.338% as investors sent $4.89 billion into U.S. bond funds last week. That marks the third straight week of net inflows. The bond rally comes after Treasuries had the worst year ever, driven by the Fed's tightening policy. The key driver for the current rally has been concerns over the Fed's rate increases sending the U.S. economy into a recession. Treasuries are typically seen as a safe haven during economic uncertainty. Investors expect the Fed to raise rates by another 25 basis points at the end of its monetary policy meeting today, while Wall Street is also looking for signs that the Fed will pull back on its hawkish stance amid falling inflation. Rob Daly, director of fixed income at Glenmede Investment Management told Reuters that "Things are coming off the boil here. There is a de-risking that's happening, and we're seeing flows out of equities into higher quality parts of the market such as fixed income." Although stocks have been rallying since late last year, investors are playing it safe, expecting the rally to end if a recession hits.

Finsum:While stocks have been in a mini rally since the end of last year, investors are playing it safe flooding U.S. bonds funds in the expectation of a recession.

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which was passed in December 2022, is retirement reform legislation that aimed to increase retirement access and security for Americans. While the legislation’s focus was on defined contribution plans, it still had an impact on annuities. For instance, Section 201 of the SECURE 2.0 act removes availability barriers to some life annuities in tax-advantaged retirement accounts. Before the bill was passed, required minimum distribution tests limited the availability of some lifetime annuities which had large benefit increases from year to year. The passage of the bill now allows these annuities to increase at a constant percentage, no more than 5% per year. In addition, Section 202 seeks to make Qualified Longevity Annuity Contracts (QLAC) easier to invest in. The section raises the cap to $200,000 on how much money a participant can use from their retirement account to purchase a QLAC. Previously, it used to be either 25% of the account’s value or $125,000, whichever was greater. Plus, Section 204 allows a retiree with a partially annuitized plan to combine the payments from both the annuity and the plan to calculate their required minimum distribution, according to Elizabeth Dold, a tax attorney and executive committee member at the Groom Law Group. Before the bill, the two accounts had to be separated, each with its own RMD calculation, which could result in higher RMD payments than if they were counted together.

Finsum:While the SECURE 2.0 Act focused on DC plans, the legislation made changes to annuities such as removing availability barriers to some life annuities in tax-advantaged retirement accounts and making QLACs easier to invest in.

While markets in 2022 were crushing for many, some portfolio managers at Capital Group are seeing brighter days ahead this year, but are still playing it safe. At a webinar revealing the firm’s asset allocations for this year, managers stated that they are reacting to a changing environment and that the market’s direction will depend on the movements of the Federal Reserve. John Queen, fixed-income portfolio manager said, “The key is inflation, and the path inflation takes from here is really going to determine what the macro environment looks like, what happens with interest rates here in the U.S., and then how aggressively the Fed is willing to combat that inflation if it stays somewhat elevated.” While the adjustments that the firm is making to its model portfolios are small, they are tilting away from growth and moving toward income, according to the panel. For instance, in its growth and income model portfolio, Capital Group moved 5% of its allocation out of a balanced fund and into a diversified fixed-income fund. Michelle Black, another solutions portfolio manager at the firm stated, “For a 20-year horizon, the starting point matters, and starting after a down year means positive outcomes for long-term investors. It’s probably not surprising to hear we have higher expected returns across the board versus one year ago, stemming really from more attractive valuations, especially in fixed income.”

Finsum:Capital Group portfolio managers are tilting away from growth and moving towards income in their model portfolios due to attractive valuations in fixed income.

On Monday, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned that broker-dealers are using outdated systems to ensure Regulation Best Interest compliance, resulting in violations in areas such as rollover and account recommendations. In a recently released Risk Alert, the SEC’s exam division points to several compliance deficiencies that it has found during exams. Following Reg BI’s June 30, 2020, compliance date, the Division of Examinations started conducting broker-dealer exams to assess compliance with the rule. The risk alert calls attention to deficiencies noted during exams, and examples of weak practices that could result in deficiencies. The Risk Alert stated that moving forward, the exam division intends to incorporate compliance with Reg BI “into retail-focused examinations of broker-dealers, particularly those that include sales practices within the scope of the examination.” According to the SEC, broker-dealers are relying “heavily on surveillance systems that existed before the effective date” of Reg BI “without considering whether those systems needed modification.” The SEC also found conflict of interest failures such as broker-dealers not having written policies and procedures on how conflicts are to be identified or addressed and failures to disclose information on website postings. Other failures included registered reps acting in multiple roles, and the failure to disclose that these “multiple relationships require disclosures of capacity and may require additional disclosure of conflicts.”

Finsum:The SEC recently issued a Risk Alert, warning broker-dealers that they are using outdated systems to ensure Reg BI compliance, resulting in violations in rollover and account recommendations.

While the younger generations have been driving interest in ESG, it appears that the older generations are changing their stance on aligning their values with sustainable investments as they want to leave the world in a better place. This is according to a study by Campden Wealth for Global Impact Solutions Today (GIST) and Barclays Private Bank. They collected data from nearly 150 respondents, including the world’s wealthiest individuals, families, family offices, and their foundations. The respondents come from 35 countries and have an average of $730m in assets under management. The study found that 36% want to demonstrate their family wealth can be invested for positive outcomes, a 13% increase from the previous year’s findings. In addition, more than half said sustainable investing is bridging the gap between younger and older generations, and almost 70% reported sustainable investing is being embraced by the generation in charge of the family’s wealth. More than three-quarters (77%) said they want to leave the world a better place, while 84% said their private capital will be essential in addressing climate change. Damian Payiatakis, head of sustainable and impact investing at Barclays Private Bank stated, “These global wealth holders have realized their capital makes an impact on the world. Accordingly, they want their portfolio to be lucrative and to be personally meaningful. The mindset shifts I’m seeing is to invest not only for tomorrow but to influence it.”

Finsum:Based on the results of a new study, impact investing is bridging the gap between younger and older generations, with almost 70% reporting that sustainable investing is being embraced by the generation in charge of the family’s wealth.