Alternative investments

Stephen Wedel, an LPL adviser and founding partner of Four Seasons Wealth Management in St. Louis, is gathering a lot of assets by investing his clients' money in alternatives, including non-traded real estate investment trusts, oil-and-gas limited partnerships, managed futures and private equity.

Fund managers are moving to get independent values on over-the-counter derivatives, rather than relying on their broker-dealers.

First investment banks developed tools to act like hedge funds. Now their risk strategies are spreading to traditional money management.

NEW YORK—Absolute-return funds may now only total $140 billion, a scant 1.2% of the $11.26 trillion in mutual funds, but that will grow to 10% to 15% over the next decade, predicts Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds

The Absolute Return LLC has launched a family of five absolute return portfolios that aim to deliver positive returns regardless of the direction of the market.

Russell Investments has launched a new family of equal weight indexes that also manage for sector risk and are easily replicated for investable products. The indexes apply to each of the nine Russell global sectors: consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financial services, healthcare, materials and processing, producer durables, technology and utilities.

Fidelity Investments is making its single family offices services available to advisers serving this market as well as ultra-high-net-worth clients with investable assets of $50 million or more.

Over half of American donors (55%) plan to maintain the same level of charitable giving in the fourth quarter, despite market uncertainty, according to a survey by the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, the largest donor-advised program nationally.

Matthews International Capital Management has launched an umbrella UCITS in Luxembourg comprised of three Asia-focused funds: Asia Dividend Fund, Pacific Tiger Fund and China Fund. It is the first time investors outside of the U.S. have had access to Matthews funds.

Genworth Financial has agreed to pay $35 million, plus additional performance-based payments, to acquire alternative investments platform provider Altegris. The deal is expected to close at the end of the year.

The mystery of why America continues to rely on foreign oil and contaminate its environment-and subsequently why the green industry holds the promise of becoming a $6 trillion market but remains speculative, volatile and fragmented-is answered in the intriguing book, "The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers and the Fight to Save the Earth" (Eric Pooley, Hyperion, 2010).

The Shanghai Stock Exchange will create exchange-traded funds based on depositary indices maintained by BNY Mellon.

To help investors take advantage of opportunities created by shifting financial trends, Russell Investments has launched the Russell Global Infrastructure Fund and the Russell Global Credit Strategies Fund and added the two to the Russell LifePoints Funds Target Portfolio Series and the Russell Core Model Strategies.

An increasing number of financial advisors advocate using alternative investments in client portfolios as a way to increase diversification, according to the 2010 Rydex|SGI Annual AdvisorBenchmarking Study.

AQR Capital Management has launched the AQR Risk Parity Fund, whose main aim is to seek consistent returns with reduced equity market exposure.

John Hancock Funds on Monday announced the launch of the John Hancock Currency Strategies Fund, a fund that will make diversified investments in global currencies and that is managed by First Quadrant.

Dodge and Cox has launched the Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds-International Stock Fund, an Ireland-domiciled UCITS (undertaking for collective investment in transferrable securities).

Lindner Capital Advisors is offering the Equinox MutualHedge Fund, a managed futures solution, to non-accredited retail investors. Equinox Fund Management is providing the underlying MutualHedge instrument.

Eaton Vance Management Tuesday announced the launch of the Eaton Vance Global Macro Absolute Return Advantage Fund.

NEW YORK-Many investment firms dealing in complex asset-backed securities did not have sufficient computing capacity to figure out the risks they were taking, as the global financial crisis unfolded, said the managing director and chief technology architect of Bank of America Merrill Lynch Monday.