Highlights from the week of October 2 – October 8, 2026.

Stable value funds play a critical role in DC plans, historically providing principal preservation, consistent positive returns, liquidity for benefit payments, and financial confidence for participants.

Rising yields can hurt bond prices now, but they may improve future income. See why your timeline matters.

See the trends in S&P 500 DB pensions

Utilities may be a fat pitch, policy curveballs may miss banks, and markets are differentiating the contenders of AI adoption.

In the increasingly competitive and complex landscape for private credit allocations, private credit secondary strategies allow investors to achieve exposure to a diversified portfolio of high-quality deals via a single investment with the added benefit of potentially higher returns.

Higher yields reflect a resilient economy, not necessarily the start of a punishing tightening cycle. That could be a favorable backdrop for bond investors.

AI companies face a trust test, cost pressure is spreading, and the Fed’s blunt tool may not reach the real bottlenecks.

A broader toolkit can be the key to realizing extra yield in the mature, shorter-duration world of modern corporate pension plans.

Small caps just got cheaper, energy still looks compelling, and defense stocks haven’t caught up to a wave of major contract wins.