​Mid-Weekly: Annuities Chaos; Pension Eyes Alt Risk Premia

Participants in the annuities market were thrown a couple of curve balls over the last week, as President Trump’s administration casted its attention on the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule. While the plan was to delay the April 10 enforcement date, the White House changed its mind at the last minute, dumping language that would have put a 160 day stay on the rule. Reaction to the news among the annuities market has been mixed, with some of the bigger distributors noting they would stay on the fee-based course, while smaller shops are waiting on the sidelines. Also in the U.S. this week, one fund suffering from the crunch in correlations is looking at trades that play both the steep S&P term structure and skew, while one pension fund is looking at further alternative risk premia trades as its overlay strategy proves successful. The presentations from our latest conference plus additional coverage is now live. Click here for all the details on Europe EQD if you missed it.