Products June 8, 2004

ASPA Offers Online CE Access

August 30, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Plan sponsors and providers alike now have a more cost-effective way to keep up with those continuing education requirements.
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The American Society of Pension Actuaries (ASPA) has just added a series of continuing education quizzes to its web-based tests. ASPA’s credentialed members are required to meet continuing education requirements in order to maintain that standing. 

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ASPA members have had the ability to earn continuing education (CE) credit through a series of quizzes based on each issue of The ASPA Journal. However, now that these quizzes are on-line, members can review questions, take the quiz, and receive immediate results, according to ASPA.  And those quick results can come in handy when you’re trying to wrap up a few last minute credits ahead of the CE reporting deadline.

Just as critically, on-line availability offers an inexpensive way to keep up with ASPA’s continuing education requirements. Before on-line testing, most members acquired CE credit by attending conferences, which can be both costly and time consuming.

According to Marissa Pietschker, QPA, ASPA’s CE Committee Chair, “Given today’s economy, many employers are cutting back on expenses and will not pay for costly employee training and development opportunities.”

ASPA says it will be implementing additional e-learning programs in the near future.

ASPA is a national organization of retirement plan professionals dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of the private pension system in the United States. 

You can check out the online tests at http://www.aspa.org/ASPAwhat.htm

Investing June 7, 2004

S&P Hedge Indices Hit By Across the Board Losses

June 7, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Standard & Poor's hedge fund indices suffered across-the-board losses in May in what S&P labeled "an increasingly uncertain marketplace," the company said in a news release.
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The S&P HFI index – the main index component which tracks the performance of nine major hedge fund strategies – finished May down 0.68%.

The S&P Directional/Tactical Index, which includes the Macro, Equity Long/Short and Managed Futures sectors, suffered the biggest setback, down 1.18% on the month. “Following an extended period of Fed easing, last month was characterized by a shift from an environment of increasing liquidity to one of declining liquidity which had a particularly strong negative impact on the Macro sector,” said Justin Dew, senior S&P hedge fund specialist, in the announcement. “Losses in Macro can also be attributed to widespread expectations of tightening economic policies in China.”   

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The S&P Arbitrage Index also gave up ground in May, declining 0.75%.   “This loss was in large part caused by poor performance in the Convertible Arbitrage sector, as market valuations fell from the unprecedented highs attained over recent years,” Dew explained. “In addition, underlying equity volatility and credit woes continue to concern convertible managers.”

Meanwhile, the S&P Event Driven Index – the best performing index in the S&P Hedge Fund Index series – also was in the red, losing 0.13% for the month.   While maintaining solid performance year-to-date, the Distressed sector was the loss leader in the month, primarily because of the response of high-yield bonds to a back-up in rates (five year back-up of 100 bps since April).   The Special Situations sector had a slight positive gain on the month as a few key valuation expectations came to fruition.

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