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April Fools

May 7, 2025 - April market activity was no joke. In early April, following President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement the S&P 500 saw two subsequent single day drawdowns exceeding all of those since 2011. Since then, there have been attempts at market rebounds but it’s too soon to say whether the market will move out of these losses or continue its downward trend. Volatility has calmed moderately as talk from the White House indicated that specific tariffs, with regard to both nations as a whole as well as particular classes of goods, could be paused but this early selloff in the month resulted in equities returning -1.05% and +0.01% for the month as tracked by the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ indexes.

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Full Court Press

April 8, 2025 - March was filled with many bracket busting moments. The sell-off in equity markets that began mid-February continued unabated. The ‘mag seven’ (i.e. a basket of highly valued technology-based stocks whose valuation generally categorizes them as mega-caps) returned -10.17% as tracked by the Bloomberg Magnificent Seven Total Return Index. Unfortunately, their tournament dreams faded quickly after an early knockout. Going into the month, new tariffs for Mexico and Canada as well as increased tariffs on goods from China had already been signed and scheduled to go into effect later this year.

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Shuffling Into Spring

February 5, 2025 - Historically, bond markets have been used as a productive hedge to equities as the two tend to perform inversely. That is, as bond yields rise money tends to flow out of equities and vice-versa. Over the course of the last fifteen years, however, empirical evidence has suggested that bonds may be an inappropriate hedge to equities because the two have begun to have a more direct relationship. While this may indeed have been the reality, market returns throughout the last month propose that the traditional, indirect relationship that bonds had with equities prior to the Great Financial Crisis has its chance at a comeback.

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Investors Master Trust for Employee Benefit Trusts Collective Investment Trusts

Sponsored by: Benefit Trust Company

Qualified Investor Certification

Participation in this family of Collective Investment Trusts is governed by the Declaration of Trust, and is limited to Eligible Trusts that are accepted by Benefit Trust Company. Eligible Trusts include (i) certain employee benefit trusts qualified under Code Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code") and exempt from taxes under Section 501(a) of the Code; (ii) individual retirement accounts that are exempt under Code Section 408(e); (iii) certain governmental plans or units described in Code Section 457(b); and (iv) certain insurance company separate accounts comprised solely of assets belonging to Eligible Trusts as described above.

Collective Investment Trusts are not available to the general public, but rather only to Qualified Retirement plans which meet eligibility requirements. Materials on this site are intended for participants within qualified retirement plans only.

The Collective Investment Trusts authorized by the Declaration of Trust, and maintained by Benefit Trust Company as Trustee are not mutual funds and are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the State of Kansas or any other regulatory body. Collective Investment Trusts maintained by a bank for these types of employee benefit trusts are exempt from such registration.

In order to view information regarding the Collective Investment Trusts, you must certify that you are (i) a representative of an Eligible Trust as described above; or (ii) a financial professional licensed to sell collective investment trusts to such representatives. Please certify by clicking on the "I Agree" button below. If you cannot make this certification, please click the "Cancel" button to return to the prior screen.

The value of the units of these Funds will fluctuate and is not guaranteed by Benefit Trust Company or the FDIC. When redeemed, units may be worth more or less than the original cost. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

‍

I AgreeCancel

Investors Master Trust for Employee Benefit Trusts Collective Investment Trusts

Sponsored by: Benefit Trust Company

Qualified Investor Certification

Participation in this family of Collective Investment Trusts is governed by the Declaration of Trust, and is limited to Eligible Trusts that are accepted by Benefit Trust Company. Eligible Trusts include (i) certain employee benefit trusts qualified under Code Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code") and exempt from taxes under Section 501(a) of the Code; (ii) individual retirement accounts that are exempt under Code Section 408(e); (iii) certain governmental plans or units described in Code Section 457(b); and (iv) certain insurance company separate accounts comprised solely of assets belonging to Eligible Trusts as described above.

Collective Investment Trusts are not available to the general public, but rather only to Qualified Retirement plans which meet eligibility requirements. Materials on this site are intended for participants within qualified retirement plans only.

The Collective Investment Trusts authorized by the Declaration of Trust, and maintained by Benefit Trust Company as Trustee are not mutual funds and are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the State of Kansas or any other regulatory body. Collective Investment Trusts maintained by a bank for these types of employee benefit trusts are exempt from such registration.

In order to view information regarding the Collective Investment Trusts, you must certify that you are (i) a representative of an Eligible Trust as described above; or (ii) a financial professional licensed to sell collective investment trusts to such representatives. Please certify by clicking on the "I Agree" button below. If you cannot make this certification, please click the "Cancel" button to return to the prior screen.

The value of the units of these Funds will fluctuate and is not guaranteed by Benefit Trust Company or the FDIC. When redeemed, units may be worth more or less than the original cost. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

‍

I AgreeCancel