Alternative investments

On April 17, 2012, Fund administration service provider Gemini Fund Services, LLC and Cole-boutique law firm Frieman Mallon & Hunt LLP have joined forceS to launch Two Roads Shared Trust, a shared mutual fund trust.

On April 17,CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc., a third-party recordkeeping and administration company, has added the collective investment funds and exchange-traded funds advised by First Trust Advisors L.P to its retirement platform.

In April 17, 2012, Two industry bodies, the Investment Company Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the amendment to Rule 4.5 of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

On April 17, Tiburon's Chip Roame shared his views on the industry with fellow participants in NYC.

On April 16, 2012, a NYSE spokesperson confirmed that J.P. Morgan Commodity ETF Services has filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission to list on the NYSE Arca an exchange-traded fund based on physical ownership of copper.

Patrick Morris is a veteran hedge fund manager who has come in from the cold.

Minneapolis-based Whitebox Advisors, the $2.3 billion asset management firm founded by Andrew Redleaf, is making a concerted push into the Registered Investment Advisor channel with the help of third-party marketing firm Havener Capital Partners LLC.

On April 13, Touchstone revealed its growth plans to MME.

On April 12, 2012, J.P. Morgan announced that it had been appointed by PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company LLC), to offer two PIMCO U.S.-registered exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the international segment of the Mexican Stock Exchange, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV).

Wilmington Trust made a multi-strat alternative offering on April 11.

HAGIN Investment on Apirl 11 HAGIN Investment hired an administrator for its first mutual fund.

Whitebox Advisors is making a concerted push into the RIA channel with the help of a new marketing partner.

Market Vectors launched on Apirl 11, 2011 a new ETF focusing on U.S. Fallen Angel debt

Sal Gilbertie, former head of the OTC Energy and Renewables Desk at Newedge USA, is the co-founder of Santa Fe, N.M.-based Teucrium, exchange-traded fund shop that specializes in futures trading of agricultural commodities.

A group of alternative mutual funds is kicking off its second annual advisor road show today in hopes of educating advisors on the benefits of alternative investing and, ultimately, winning business.

Financial advisors are increasingly turning towards alternative investments and tactical asset allocations in response to market turbulence, according to a survey released by Curian Capital.

Here is what investors get told, before investing in one set of exchange-traded notes:

Socially responsible investing has increasingly become hot over the past five years.

The Exchange Traded Products (ETP) industry recorded its best ever start to a year, attracting net new assets of $67.3billion in the first quarter of 2012, a 57% increase over the $42.8billion gained in the first quarter of 2011, according to the Q1 2012 ETP Landscape Report released by BlackRock. The first quarter 2011 figure had previously been the best annual start on record.

Exchange-traded funds are off to a strong start, with record first-quarter inflows reaching $55.9 billion.