Annual Report
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September 30, 2020 Annual Report Touchstone Funds Group Trust Touchstone Active Bond Fund Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Fund Touchstone Credit Opportunities II Fund Touchstone High Yield Fund Touchstone Impact Bond Fund Touchstone International ESG Equity Fund Touchstone Mid Cap Fund Touchstone Mid Cap Value Fund Touchstone Sands Capital Select Growth Fund Touchstone Small Cap Fund Touchstone Small Cap Value Fund Touchstone Ultra Short Duration Fixed Income Fund IMPORTANT NOTE: Beginning on January 1, 2021, as permitted by regulations adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, paper copies of the Touchstone Funds’ annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will no longer be sent by mail, unless you specifically request paper copies of the shareholder reports from Touchstone Funds or from your financial intermediary, such as a broker-dealer or bank. Instead, annual and semi-annual shareholder reports will be available on the Touchstone Funds’ website (TouchstoneInvestments.com/Resources), and you will be notified by mail each time a report is posted and provided with a website link to access the report. You may elect to receive all future annual and semi-annual shareholder reports in paper, free of charge. If you already elected to receive shareholder reports electronically, you will not be affected by this change and you need not take any action. To elect to receive paper copies of shareholder reports through the mail or otherwise change your delivery method, contact your financial intermediary or, if you hold your shares directly through Touchstone Funds, visit TouchstoneInvestments.com/Resources/Edelivery or call Touchstone Funds toll-free at 1.800.543.0407. Your election to receive shareholder reports in paper will apply to all Touchstone Funds that you hold through the financial intermediary, or directly with Touchstone. Table of Contents Page Letter from the President 3 Management's Discussion of Fund Performance (Unaudited) 4 - 38 Tabular Presentation of Portfolios of Investments (Unaudited) 39 - 42 Portfolios of Investments: Touchstone Active Bond Fund 43 Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® International Core Equity Fund 52 Touchstone Anti-Benchmark® US Core Equity Fund 55 Touchstone Credit Opportunities II Fund 57 Touchstone High Yield Fund 64 Touchstone Impact Bond Fund 68 Touchstone International ESG Equity Fund 72 Touchstone Mid Cap Fund 74 Touchstone Mid Cap Value Fund 75 Touchstone Sands Capital Select Growth Fund 77 Touchstone Small Cap Fund 78 Touchstone Small Cap Value Fund 79 Touchstone Ultra Short Duration Fixed Income Fund 81 Statements of Assets and Liabilities 88 - 91 Statements of Operations 92 - 93 Statements of Changes in Net Assets 94 - 97 Statements of Changes in Net Assets - Capital Stock Activity 98 - 104 Financial Highlights 105 - 135 Notes to Financial Statements 136 - 155 Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm 156 Other Items (Unaudited) 158 - 162 Management of the Trust (Unaudited) 163 - 164 Privacy Protection Policy 167 This report identifies the Funds' investments on September 30, 2020. These holdings are subject to change. Not all investments in each Fund performed the same, nor is there any guarantee that these investments will perform as well in the future. Market forecasts provided in this report may not occur. 2 Letter from the President Dear Shareholder: We are pleased to provide you with theTouchstoneFunds GroupTrust Annual Report. Inside you will find key financial information, as well as manager commentaries for the Funds for the 12 months ended September 30, 2020. Trade-related rhetoric between the U.S. and China drove market volatility throughout 2019. However, by the end of calendar year, the U.S.-China trade discussions took a more constructive tone, culminating in an announcement of a Phase One Trade Agreement in early 2020 to reduce some tariff levels. The global economic outlook seemed poised to resume a tenuous, yet modest growth trajectory until progress was upended in the first half of 2020 as COVID-19 swept the globe, bringing with it containment measures resulting in massive shutdowns of economic activity. Following an economic lockdown during most of March and April 2020, U.S. state governors began slowly reopening their economies across the country. Although employment numbers and retail sales figures through the latter portion of the 12-month period rebounded strongly from their March 2020 lows, investor sentiment remains cautious as the stimulus programs put in place during the depths of the outbreak ended with an uncertain outlook for further support. Likewise, the rest of the world navigated a similar reopening process, though with varying paces and policies. China, for example, has seemingly been able to stem the spread of the virus and tended to recover more quickly than the U.S., Brazil and parts of Europe, who have struggled with pockets of outbreaks. The last 12 months featured a lot of price action that at first glance resulted in little change. As alluded to previously, the S&P 500® Index ended 2019 on a strong note and this continued into January of 2020, but then quickly reversed into a recession-like drawdown. The severe pullback during the first quarter was followed by a strong rebound late in the quarter, which carried into the second and third quarters before stalling in September 2020 to finish with a double-digit gain. Underneath the high-level results, U.S. equity performance varied widely primarily by style with growth equities far outperforming value equities during the 12-month period. U.S. growth stocks were predominately driven by Communication Services, Consumer Discretionary, InformationTechnology (IT) and Health Care stocks as these underlying companies were least impacted or even benefited from the COVID-19 lockdowns. Conversely, U.S. value equities faced significant headwinds as the sudden drop in economic activity in the first half of 2020 adversely impacted cyclical sectors and value equity-tilted sectors such as Financials, Energy, Materials and Real Estate. Large cap stocks held up better largely due to their ability to weather challenging economic conditions compared to their mid cap and small cap peers. Internet behemoths such as Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Netflix drove the strong aforementioned growth equity returns as they benefited from the COVID-19-induced lockdown impacting everyday life and working conditions. Non-U.S. developed equity markets generally trailed the U.S. over the past 12 months. Japan performed relatively well with slow growth in COVID-19 cases and aggressive stimulus measures while Europe was hit harder by the pandemic. Similar to the U.S., IT and Health Care stocks were among the top contributors in developed markets while Energy and Financials lagged. In emerging markets, equities exhibited the same pattern as the U.S. and developed markets with IT and Asia-Pacific countries who experienced COVID-19 lockdowns earlier in the year, such as China,Taiwanand South Korea, leading the way. As previously described, Asia-Pacific countries experienced an abating COVID-19 virus by the second quarter and were able to reopen their economies earlier than the U.S. and Europe. Within fixed income, Treasury prices benefited and yields compressed due to U.S. Federal Reserve Board (Fed) actions and a flight to safety during the rapid selloff of risk assets in the first half of 2020. Meanwhile, credit-sensitive sectors saw the strong results of 2019 nearly or completely erased as concerns over potential for rising defaults and technical selling pressures factored into the drawdown. During the first quarter of 2020, spreads across investment grade credit, high yield credit, bank loans and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs) all reached levels not seen since the 2008 Credit Crisis. The Fed stepped in during the volatility to provide liquidity, slashed overnight rates to zero, and provided support for the fixed income markets through new asset purchase programs. The Fed’s actions helped ease the volatility and negative sentiment that appeared in March, as credit spreads narrowed over the six subsequent months for a double-digit gain off the bottom. Markets such as these reaffirm our belief in the importance of the steady hands of financial professionals, trust in your investment strategy, and awareness of the risks that accompany trying to time the market. Additionally, we believe that environments that are more volatile in fact create more opportunity for active managers to add value, especially those that are Distinctively Active. We greatly value your continued support. Thank you for including Touchstone as part of your investment plan. Sincerely, Jill T. McGruder President Touchstone Funds Group Trust 3 Management's Discussion of Fund Performance (Unaudited) Touchstone Active Bond Fund Sub-Advised by Fort Washington Investment Advisors, Inc. Investment Philosophy The Touchstone Active Bond Fund seeks to provide as high a level of current income as is consistent with the preservation of capital. Capital appreciation is a secondary goal. In deciding what securities to buy and sell for the Fund, the overall investment opportunities and risks in different sectors of the debt securities market are analyzed by focusing on maximizing total return and reducing volatility of the Fund’s portfolio. A disciplined sector allocation process is followed in order to build a broadly diversified portfolio of bonds. Fund Performance The Touchstone Active Bond Fund (Class A Shares) outperformed its benchmark, the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, for the 12-month period ending September 30, 2020. The Fund’s total return was 7.91 percent (calculated excluding the maximum sales charge) while the total return of the benchmark was 6.98 percent. Market Environment During the first three months of the period U.S.-China trade tensions cooled with both sides headed toward an eventual resolution of the dispute. Additionally, tariffs, concern over global growth, inflation consistently below the Fed’s target, and modest but resilient U.S. growth kept a cap on rates providing an accommodative environment in terms of easy financial conditions.