S&P Unveils Alt. Investment Indicator

December 4, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Plan sponsors making or monitoring alternative investments may get more information about market trends from a new S&P Diversified Trends Indicator (S&P DTI) from Standard & Poor's.

According to an S&P announcement, the S&P DTI will be made up of long and short positions in 24 financial and commodity futures and should be uncorrelated to traditional bond and equity returns.

Standard & Poor’s said it will calculate and publish daily values of the S&P DTI, while the Dallas-based financial services company and the original developer of the concept, Alpha Financial Technologies LLC (AFT), will market it to buy-side firms and other product developers.

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Standard & Poor’s expects to launch the S&P DTI in the first quarter of 2003 and daily values  will be available publicly .

Companies Step up Benefits

April 11, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Even though it is getting more expensive to do so, virtually all employers participating in a recent survey say they offer employee health-care benefits.

Some 99% of the respondents to the survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) said they provided health coverage through a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO), Indemnity, or Defined Contribution plan.

Employers said they’ve increased the following benefits:

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  • 95% listed prescription drugs
  • 73% listed vision coverage
  • 58% cited a wellness program
  • 48% mentioned a well-baby program
  • 28% listed a gym subsidy
  • 21% cited cancer insurance

In other types of employee benefits, 33% of respondents offer paid or unpaid time off to volunteer. Some 35% give employees more leave than required for military service.

The SHRM survey of 551 HR professionals tracked 187 benefits offered by employers.

 


 

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