Alternative investments

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.

Fidelity Charitable has created an array of seven investment options offering diversification across asset classes and risk. In addition, Fidelity Charitable has created an online tool to help investors make investment decisions.

Credit Suisse has launched the Credit Suisse Global Equity Market Neutral ETN, its fifth alternative exchange-traded note.

Morningstar will begin ranking and researching managed ETF portfolios by the end of the year, the research firm announced at its second annual ETF Invest Conference in Chicago Thursday.

Analysts at Standard & Poor's are looking to exchange-traded funds rooted in individual countries as a vehicle for advisors and their clients to compensate for sustained weakness in the U.S. economy.

As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

As registered investment advisors and fee-based advisers are challenged by increasing market volatility and declines, they are turning to alternative investment classes and tactical allocation to protect their clients’ portfolios. This was the major finding of a survey of 500 professionals by Jefferson National.

The vast majority of retail advisers now use alternative products or strategies for their clients-but that number is a bit misleading, a new study finds.