401(k) Participant Trading Activity Low in April

April was a light trading month for 401(k) investors, according to the Aon Hewitt 401(k) Index.

In total, 0.16% of balances traded in April—down from 0.25% in March. There were zero days of above-normal trading activity for the month. The asset classes with the most inflows were fixed income funds and the funds with the most outflows were equity funds. Fourteen out of 21 of trading days showed more inflows to fixed income.

Bond funds posted $130 million in inflows, while GIC/Stable Value funds received $85 million, and Money Market funds received $28 million.

Large U.S. Equity funds saw $66 million in outflows, and Company Stock funds posted $53 million in outflows. International Equity funds lost $39 million, while Small U.S. Equity funds lost $37 million.

After combining contributions, trades, and market activity in participants’ accounts, the percentage in equities in at the end of April remained unchanged at 64.8%. New contributions still favor stocks, but the employee contributions to equities slightly fell to 65.9% in April from 66.0% in March.

The asset classes with the most contributions in April were Target-Date funds ($429 million) and Large U.S. Equity funds ($208 million). Target-Date funds also had the largest percentage of total balances at the end of April.