Knowledge Center

Domestic equity markets were positive in April, as the Wilshire 5000 Total Market IndexSM returned 0.65% and the S&P 500 Index returned 0.39%.

It’s been a tumultuous start to 2016, as the actions of global central bankers and comments by political leaders of oil producing nations have fueled dramatic price swings across all assets and markets. Uncertainty continues to plague markets as investors have been rattled by a collapse in commodity prices, signs of stress in the global economy, a deteriorating earnings growth outlook, heightened geopolitical risk, and the questionable direction of monetary policy.

SANTA MONICA, CA, APRIL 18, 2016—Wilshire Funds Management, a business unit of the global investment manager, Wilshire Associates Incorporated, today announced it is launching the Wilshire Wealth Management Platform, an end-to-end advisor platform that leverages technology from leading financial solutions provider Vestmark.

Webinar Replay: “2015 Year in Review and 2016 Outlook” webinar, presented by Josh Emanuel, Wilshire Funds Management CIO, and hosted by Jeremy Heffernan, Wilshire Funds Management Vice President.

SANTA MONICA, CA, APRIL 14, 2016—The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index^SM returned -1.30% in January, meaningfully outperforming the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index by 146 basis points.

GDP: Real GDP growth continued to slow during the fourth quarter of 2015, expanding 1.4% on an annualized basis. Economic growth for the entire year was equal to 2.4%, the same growth rate as 2014. One concerning trend from 2015 is a weakening in business spending. Fixed investment has been slowing and businesses are being cautious about adding to inventory. Personal consumption remains strong and accounted for nearly all of the growth during the fourth quarter.

The comments out of the Fed meeting last week were received by some as being surprisingly dovish, as the median dot in the Fed’s dot plot slipped to a year-end level of 0.75 – 1.00 percent. This implies only two 25 basis point rate increases by year-end, and represents a considerable decline from the previous dot plot which implied four 25 basis point rate increases.

U.S. Economy and Markets: Domestic equity markets were modestly down in February, as the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index^SM returned -0.05% and the S&P 500 Index returned -0.13%. Market volatility increased slightly in February, with the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) ending the month at 20.55, up from 20.20 at the end of January 2015.

Coming out of 2015 on the heels of the Fed’s first interest rate hike since the financial crisis, investors were pricing in a very high probability of several more interest rate hikes in 2016. The Fed’s guidance implied four rate hikes this year, and Fed Funds Futures implied a roughly 90% probability that the Fed would raise rates further by December of 2016.

SANTA MONICA, CA, FEBRUARY 19, 2016—The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index^SM returned -1.30% in January, meaningfully outperforming the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index by 146 basis points.