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December 06, 2019 at 03:16 PM
2019 has been a very good year for U.S. financial markets. The S&P 500 has gained 24% year to date through Dec. 4, and the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index is up 9%, but those gains are not reflected in other key market data.
Through Oct. 31, 2019, for example, U.S. equity issuance declined 6.4%, IPO volume fell a whopping 24.6% and average daily volume of U.S. stocks declined 0.6%, according to SIFMA. Overall U.S. equity market capitalization increased almost 6% but that was only one-third of the increase in global markets.
Issuance in U.S. bond markets, in contrast, surged 20% with outstanding bond supply up 4.2%, and U.S. retirement assets fell 1.3%.
SIFMA will release final numbers for 2019 during the first quarter of next year, said Ken Bentsen, its president and CEO, who held a state of the industry briefing with reporters on Thursday.
Also in the new year, SIFMA expects to release the results of a joint project with Cerulli Associates that focuses on individual investors: how they access the financial markets and how they engage with advisors, said Bentsen.
Preliminary results show that almost equal share of investors rely on themselves and work with advisors to manage their financial assets — 35% vs. 39%, according to Bentsen.
Those with advisors report they are highly satisfied. On a scale of one to 7, 80% rate their advisor a 6 or 7 and 75% are highly likely to recommend their advisor to someone else.
As part of SIFMA’s press briefing, Bentsen reviewed a laundry list of regulatory and legislative issues that are important to the securities trade organization and its members.
