Alternative investments

Mutual funds may have been an American innovation. But asset managers will now go to China, Brazil, India or wherever returns can be found, according to Alan Reid, founder Forward Fund Management, at the Investment Company Institute's Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference.

A shift in American investor appetite towards investment outcome, as opposed to relative return, is changing their buying behavior, according to research published by Casey, Quirk & Associates and the eVestment Alliance.

Insurer and wealth manager The Hartford is trimming its focus to a few core business areas: property and casualty, group benefits and mutual funds.

Alternative investment manager Direxion has launched an exchange-traded fund that provides investors with equal weighted exposure to the constituents of the NASDAQ-100 index.

Market Vectors, the exchange-traded product arm of Van Eck Global, is tapping into the resilience of Indonesia’s economy by launching a fund focusing on the country’s small cap equity sector.

San Francisco-based Forward Management is looking to boost it sales and marketing efforts in anticipation of increasing advisor interest for alternative mutual funds.

Russell Investments has launched two exchange-traded funds focusing on high dividend yield investments in American companies.

Van Eck Global is stirring up another exchange-traded fund in the form of the Market Vectors Global Chemicals ET, which will bet on U.S. and non-U.S. chemical concerns.

On March 1, Bill Gross, co-founder of the Pacific Investment Management Company, officially crossed the line and fired his opening salvo in the exchange-traded fund business.

WisdomTree Investments, Inc. is visiting the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square on Thursday with Western Asset Management Company, a subsidiary of Legg Mason, to celebrate the launch of the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund.

La Jolla, Calif.-based Altegris is looking to beef up its managed futures mutual fund, dubbed the Altegris Managed Futures Strategy Fund, a fund of funds, by adding two more managers to its stable.

San Francisco, Calif-based Forward Management, LLC today unveiled its latest offering, the Forward Managed Futures Strategy Fund, a systematic, trend-following vehicle that will bet long and short exposure on liquid futures contracts in commodities, equities, bonds and currencies.

La Jolla, Calif.-based Altegris, an alternative mutual fund shop, has hired Amy Bennett as its new director, sales strategy and channel marketing, reporting to Andrea Trachtenberg, chief marketing officer.

Thanks to stagnant interest rates and lingering worries over the Eurozone and other developed markets, the exchange traded fund market in February grew 3.9%, or more than $44 billion assets, over the previous month, according to a snapshot report released by State Street Global Advisors.

J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services has hired Stephanie Miller as Global Head of the Alternative Investment Services business.

It's official: BlackRock, Inc. today says it has completed its acquisition of the Toronto-based Claymore Investments, Inc.

361 Capital, a provider of alternative investment mutual funds, separate accounts, and limited partnerships to institutions, financial intermediaries, and high-net-worth investors, has entered into a strategic partnership with Lighthouse Partners, a fund-of-hedge-funds and managed account investment adviser.

The coming year is shaping up to be a fresh start for alternative mutual fund shop Pyxis Capital.

Jackson National Life Insurance Company, a purveyor of variable annuities, is looking to offer its advisors and their retail clients access to alternative investments.

A new investment management shop has opened in Palm Beach, Fla., dubbed Crest Investment Partners LLC.