Equity Swoon Strikes ETFs in June

July 30, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Assets of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) decreased by nearly $4 billion in June, but international ETFs managed to gain ground.

An ETF is similar to a mutual fund, but trades like a single stock. Like a mutual fund, an ETF is a basket of stocks, most typically reflecting a particular index, specific market or geographic sectors.

Assets of domestic ETFs decreased by $3.95 billion, while assets of international ETFs increased by $94 million, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI). 

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Broad-based ETF offerings declined by more than 4%, but domestic sector/industry ETFs shrank by more than 9.6%.  However, sector/industry ETFs comprise only about 10% of the total exchange-traded funds.

Gross issuance of ETFs was down about a third from the $12.7 million issued in May, while gross redemptions were somewhat higher.  On a net/net basis, the value of shares issued exceeded that of shares redeemed by $3.98 billion in June.

Sixty-eight ETFs tracked domestic stock indexes in June and held assets of $81.69 billion. Among the domestic ETFs, 35 used broad-based indexes and 33 ETFs targeted sector or industry indexes.

Statistics contained in the Institute’s monthly ETF report have been obtained from information provided to ICI by exchange-traded funds. Trust-issued receipts, such as Holding Company Depository Receipts (HOLDRS), are not included in the report because registered investment companies do not issue them.

Read more about Exchange Traded Funds

HR Challenged With Getting, Keeping More with Less

July 29, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Human resource professionals appear to be caught between the rock of cost constraints and the hard place of tight budgets, according to a new survey.

In the midst of a tough employment market, it is perhaps not surprising that retaining talent was cited as the top people-related issue by HR respondents to the latest Towers Perrin Track survey.  However, the 72% that cited that objective outpaced the next highest issue, attracting talent with critical skills, which was cited by 58% of the 100 respondents to the survey.

Spend “Thrifts”

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Somewhat ironically, the largest decrease in HR spending was staffing – a category that nearly 40% said they were spending less on since 2001 (however, nearly a quarter were spending more in this area). 

“HR has been trying to reinvent itself for more than a decade, but when the economy goes south, support for it quickly takes a back seat to more pressing financial concerns,” noted Cary Rhodes, a Towers Perrin principal who specializes in the design and operation of the HR function.

Offsetting the cut in staffing may well be the fact that more than half (52%) of the survey respondents say they have increased, or significantly increased, spending on HR information systems (HRIS).  In a related finding, more than half (52%) say that implementing new HR technologies is a significant internal HR management challenge, second highest in that category. 

Business Focus

However, the most critical internal challenge was shifting HR’s role to help address critical business, cited by 57%. 

Other key challenges cited were:

  • 41% – building capabilities of HR staff
  • 39% – strengthening relationships with internal customers
  • 34% – building/strengthening HR measurement capabilities
  • 28% – building global capabilities within HR
  • 18% – shaping the culture within HR
  • 9% – implementing new outsourcing relationships
  • 4% – strengthening vendor relationships

Towers Perrin notes that more than three-quarters of the survey respondents reported that their HR budgets have either dropped or held steady since 2001, with just 22% reporting an increase in overall budget.  On the other hand, the “worst” could be over, with the percentage anticipating a drop in their budget declining from 46% to just 34% for next year, while 41% were anticipating no change, compared with 32% this year.

Roughly 100 senior HR executives from North America responded to the survey.

 

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