Fall 2005 - Halliburton

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Risk Assessment Evaluating Your Investment Style How involved you want to be in making your investment decisions can play a key role in where you invest your money. By evaluating your own investment style preferences, you can determine whether you would be more comfortable choosing from the Premixed Portfolios or the Single Focus Funds. Answer the following questions and add up the points associated with each question. How much time per quarter do you want to spend evaluating the plan’s investment options? On average, how often do you check performance results for your investments? How would you rate your level of experience as an investor? How confident are you that your investment decisions will be right for your circumstances and goals? On average, how often do you watch financial programs on T.V. or read financial publications? How often do you monitor and rebalance your investments? How well do you understand investment risk? How well do you understand inflation risk? Which would best describe your approach to investing? 1. As little time as possible 2. One to three hours 3. As much time as needed 1. Annually 2. Quarterly 3. Weekly 1. Low 2. Moderate 3. High 1. Not confident 2. Somewhat confident 3. Very confident 1. Never 2. Once in awhile 3. Most of the time 1. Never 2. Annually 3. Quarterly 1. Not well 2. Somewhat 3. Very well 1. Not well 2. Somewhat 3. Very well 1. I want to delegate investment decisions to financial professionals 2. I want to delegate investment decisions to financial professionals, but monitor how they are doing 3. I want to make my own investment decisions and make adjustments to them when necessary Score: 9 – 14: You will probably be most comfortable with one of the Premixed Portfolios that matches your risk tolerance level. Participants in these investments take advantage of the actively managed accounts that are self-balancing to ensure they continue to maintain their risk/return objectives. 15 – 21: You may be comfortable with either investment style: choosing from one of the Premixed Portfolios or creating your own portfolio from among the Single Focus Funds. 22 – 27: You will probably like to select your investments from the Single Focus Funds. These funds may require more time and involvement on your part to create, monitor and adjust your portfolio over time to meet your investment and risk tolerance needs. 10
Newsstand Market Update The third quarter of <strong>2005</strong> proved to be relatively calm for most of the investment marketplace, despite devastating storms in the Gulf of Mexico. In seeming defiance of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the equity markets continued to grow steadily during the quarter. Stocks in both the U.S. and abroad produced positive results in the third quarter and saw the highest level in four years for the S&P 500 Index. Although rising oil and gas prices began to make their way into the economic statistics, they didn’t appear to negatively impact market performance. At one point, oil prices rose above $70 per barrel but fell to $66 per barrel by the quarter’s end. The U.S. bond market saw slight declines as the Federal Reserve increased short-term interest rates by 0.5%. In the U.S., stock market results started strong early in the quarter, turned down in August and were relatively flat in September. Still, the S&P 500 Index of large cap stocks gained 3.6% for the quarter and 2.8% for the year to date. U.S. small cap stocks gained 4.7% in the third quarter and 3.4% so far this year. Expectations for the S&P 500 were for growth of more than 15% in the third quarter versus the prior year, however, concerns over inflation and rising interest rates kept stock prices in check. Growth stocks outperformed value stocks for the quarter, but value stocks remain on top year to date. Investors in non-U.S. stocks enjoyed another quarter of strong performance with the MSCI ACWI Index gaining 11.8%. The U.S. dollar remained relatively stable and did not negatively impact returns as in previous quarters. Japan and the Pacific region equities produced returns of around 20% for the quarter while Europe and the UK stock markets produced returns below 10%. The Emerging Markets produced another huge gain for U.S. investors, gaining 18.1% in the third quarter and 25.5% year to date. For the bond markets, the continuing rise in shortterm interest rates drove returns slightly down for the quarter. The Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index returned -0.7% for the quarter but was up 1.8% for the year to date. The U.S. yield curve continued to flatten during the quarter, as short term interest rates rose and longer term rates remained stable. For the third quarter, the high yield segment (below investment grade) was the top performer of the major market segments, followed by mortgagebacked securities, Treasury securities, and corporate bonds. For the year to date, all of the major segments of the bond market produced returns of between 1% and 2%. Five-Year Performance of Major Asset Classes Cumulative Percentage Increase/Decrease – Monthly Observations 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% -20% -40% -60% OCT 00 JAN 01 APR 01 JUL 01 OCT 01 JAN02 APR 02 JUL 02 OCT 02 JAN 03 APR 03 JUL 03 OCT 03 JAN 04 APR 04 JUL 04 OCT 04 JAN 05 APR 05 JUL 05 U.S. Large Stocks U.S. Small Stocks U.S. Bonds Non-U.S. Stocks Emerging Market Stocks 11
Page 1 and 2: Fall 2005 Summer 2004 Feature Stori
Page 3 and 4: Feature What’s in a Name? Hallibu
Page 5 and 6: Feature New Transfer Policy Impleme
Page 7 and 8: Investment Know-How • Portfolio R
Page 9: Focus on Funds Conservative Premixe
Page 13 and 14: Fund Performance Update Halliburton
Page 16: 10200 Bellaire Blvd. Houston, TX 77

Fall 2005 - Halliburton

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?