Alternative investments

Herb Morgan has a good barometer to tell how hot the market for exchange-traded funds is getting.

Sudi Mariappa, the former bond head and Managing Director at PIMCO who worked closely with founder Bill Gross, will join GLG, the investment management division of London-based Man Group PLC to manage the firm’s renewed push into fixed-income hedge funds.

Loomis Sayles is making a hasty name change to one of its funds after losing out on a federal lawsuit.

Forward has expanded its institutional and intermediary sales forces with a slew of new hires.

Global assets invested in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products reached a record $1.76 trillion through the end of August 2012.

As investing in alternatives such as real estate, private equity funds, hedge fund strategies and commodities grow in popularity, the way these are being used by institutions and investment advisors is changing.

Keith Bernard, former Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales, at Pax World Management, has left the firm, Money Management Executive has learned.

As investing in alternatives such as real estate, private equity funds, hedge fund strategies and commodities grow in popularity, the way these are being used by institutions and investment advisors is changing.

Multi-manager shop Virtus Investment Partners has added Rampart Investment Management, which specializes in customized options strategies for institutional and high-net-worth clients, as a wholly owned affiliate of Virtus.

The two Republican members of the Securities and Exchange Commission said they are not opposed to further reform of the money fund industry, but that changes advocated by Chairman Mary Schapiro "were not supported by the requisite data and analysis.''

First Trust Advisors has launched an ETF based on the CBOE S&P VIX Tail Hedge Index.

Investment advisory shop Arnerich Massena has promoted Scott Dunbar to managing director of advisory services.

Alternative investments should comprise as much as 20%, 30% or even 50% of a client's portfolio, according to an online panel of analysts and portfolio managers hosted by Envestnet.

Global exchange-traded fund assets have increased by 13.9% from $1.35 trillion to $1.54 trillion year-to-date, through the end of July 2012.

With a new head of research on board, Lipper announced a new set of initiatives for the second half of 2012 that involves building out research and analytical tools.

Risk parity has become a popular allocation and risk management strategy in recent years. Do you know enough about it to provide guidance to your clients?

Fixed income ETPs now account for 18% of global ETP assets, up from 7% in 2007 at the onset of the financial crisis, according to BlackRock.

Van Eck Global is prepping to launch the Market Vectors Short High-Yield Municipal Index ETF, which will replicate the Short High Yield Index, according to a Securities and Exchange filing.

The Board of Trustees of Rydex Series Funds has approved a revision of the principal investment strategies for the Trust’s Managed Futures Strategy Fund.

Rydex is nixing its Long Short Equity Strategy Fund because of “unfavorable market conditions,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.