Alternative investments

SAN FRANCISCO -- Alternative investment strategies are relatively new. But they've already achieved broad acceptance within the investment world, Jerome Abernathy of Rydex SGI told a packed gathering at the Schwab Impact conference here Wednesday.

Eaton Vance has launched the Eaton Vance Multi-Strategy All Market Fund, a new fund that can invest in a broad spectrum of asset classes, including stocks, bonds and alternatives. The fund’s managers will employ fundamental analysis, quantitative portfolio optimization and risk management techniques.

IndexIQ has expanded its IQ series of 16 funds with the IQ Global Alternatives ETF Model Portfolio. The investment vehicle uses liquid, transparent, low-cost alternative exchange-traded funds to achieve diversification, growth of capital and low volatility.

Highland Funds Asset Management has launched the Highland Alpha Trend Strategies Fund, a global fund that will invest in country- and region-specific exchange-traded funds as well as take long and short positions in equity indexes. The fund aims to invest in areas with low correlation and volatility.

Schwab Charitable has launched the Charitable Legacy Program, to enable individuals to extend their charitable giving beyond their lifetimes.

Flexibility. Tactical allocation. Macroeconomic analysis.

Investors contributed $748 million to Fidelity Charitable, the largest donor-advised fund in the U.S., in the first nine months of 2011, a 23% increase from the first three quarters of 2010. Thus, the fund is on course to receive the largest amount of contributions in its 20-year history, Fidelity said.

Mutual fund managers prided themselves on sticking to their investment mandates early on in the financial crisis of 2008. This, even as the average U.S. stock fund fell nearly 30% in value. They counseled investors to do the same. Three years later, there is a new direction for funds: the flexibility to go anywhere, to pay closer attention to macroeconomic and market trends, and to even hunker down in cash.

It’s a brave new world for investors, according to Natixis Global Asset Management President and CEO, U.S. and Asia, John Hailer. Amid the market volatility that has spiked this year, investors need alternative investments that are uncorrelated to the markets in order to build what Hailer calls “durable portfolios.”

NEW YORK—Following periods of market turbulence, investors always look for transparency and liquidity, which will inevitably attract more assets to the $1.2 trillion exchange-traded fund industry, speakers at the Money Management Institute Fall Solutions 2011 conference said Wednesday.

State Street Global Advisors this week launched its High Quality Green Bond strategy, giving investors a way to direct fixed-income investments to global climate solutions.

As head of global exchange-traded fund services at BNY Mellon, Joe Keenan has a front-row seat on developments in the exchange-traded fund industry. As such, Keenan fully expects ETFs to continue their incredible success story. Money Management Executive Editor Lee Barney recently spoke with Keenan on the drivers of ETF growth.

ProShares has launched the ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas and ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Natural Gas exchange-traded funds. The two funds are tied to the Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Subindex.

BlackRock has launched three mutual funds that invest in alternative investments, the BlackRock Commodity Strategies, BlackRock Emerging Markets Long/Short and BlackRock Global Long/Short Credit funds.

ProShares has launched the first ETFs in the United States to provide magnified or inverse exposure to VIX futures.

Got downside protection? That's the question many 401(k) plan sponsors and investors are now asking.

Van Eck says ETFs can reflect changes in industry sectors, whereas HOLDRS’ depositary trust structure is static.

ConvergEx Group has launched a new division dedicated to the formation, performance and management of alternative mutual funds.

Russell Investments has added four additional investment discipline indexes to its series, all of which concentrate on small-cap securities.

The latest entrant into the wealth management arena comes not from Wall Street but from just outside Silicon Valley, and is taking dead aim at the Internet brokerage space for higher-end investors with a slick Web-based dashboard, holistic account monitoring and a stable of financial advisers to complement the technology with a human touch.