Alternative investments

Charles Schwab is attracting a slew of new assets, and daily average trades are rising. New and established clients brought the company $6 billion of net new assets in January, according to its monthly market activity report. Total client assets rose 27% from a year earlier, to $1.401 trillion, but were down 2% from December because of difficult market conditions.

Seventy-eight percent of advisers increased the number and duration of client contacts in 2009 to regain their trust after the very difficult year before, and while that has distracted many from business strategies, 68% of advisers are confident about their practices in the coming year. This is according to a survey of 1,804 advisers and 150 broker/dealers that Curian Capital conducted via Zoomerang.

Although the Obama administration recently gave its stamp of approval on annuities as a solution for retirement income, many professionals warn that their low yields and increasing fees should give investors pause, The Wall Street Journal reports.

After a New York Times story about the Obama administration promoting the use of fixed annuities to help middle-class savers in defined contribution (DC) plans manage longevity risk, research and advisory firm Aite Group took a look at what this will mean for insurers.

Charles Schwab has selected State Street Corp. to support its eight new exchange-traded funds with custody, fund accounting, fund administration and transfer agency services. Sin e2005, State Street has provided Schwab with custody, fund accounting, fund administration and securities lending services.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. reported fourth-quarter net income of $557 million, or $1.19 per share, compared with a loss of $806 million, or $2.71 per share, a year earlier. For the full year, the Connecticut company posted a loss of $887 million, compared with a $2.7 billion loss in 2008.

Prudential Financial reported 2009 year-end earnings of $3.411 billion, or $7.63 per common share, a sharp improvement from the $1.14 billion loss, or $2.53 per common share, in 2008.

Affiliated Managers Group has reached an agreement with Russell Investments to acquire Russell subsidiary Pantheon Ventures for $775 million, with the potential for additional payments over the next five years, contingent on Pantheon’s growth.

The financial crisis has made a permanent impression on American consumers, who are likely to save 6% or more of their income over the next decade, translating to as much as $800 billion stashed away each year, according to a new study by Allianz Group.

E*Trade has expanded its advice offerings with the addition of actively managed portfolios of non-proprietary mutual funds or exchange-traded funds. They will have a minimum investment threshold of $25,000 and offer a wide range of investment styles from conservative to aggressive growth. The service, residing on PNC Managed Investments’ platform, will also be automatically rebalanced to ensure proper diversification.

Morningstar has acquired Footnoted.org, the terms of the deal undisclosed.

Fee-based financial advisers are grappling with the fallout from the crash of 2008 and see tactical asset management as the way to navigate the current market, according to a survey of 750 advisers by Jefferson National.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) rose in January by one percent to 93.2, the fifth consecutive month it has risen. However, it is down 0.7% from a year ago.

Reflecting their deep turmoil during the past two years, the banking and insurance industries rank as the least trusted in the U.S., with banks recording the only slide in faith the past year, according to the inaugural 2010 Edelman Financial Services U.S. Trust Barometer.

An industry group developing best practices for 403(b) retirement plans is coming closer to streamlining these plans to make them even more similar to 401(k) plans, but first they will have to get everyone to agree to speak the same language.

The actively managed exchange-traded funds sector is increasingly going mainstream, and Grail Advisors is riding right along with it. Grail is aggressively expanding its product lineup, introducing two fixed-income funds that brings to seven its stable of actively managed exchange-traded funds.

NEW YORK - Financial experts think 2010 could provide many interesting opportunities in the realm of wealth transference, particularly with the temporary, one-year expiration of the federal estate tax and reduction of the gift tax.

Great West Retirement Services has introduced a new set of guaranteed income investment options, SecureFoundation. The products protect participants’ retirement income when the market drops, gives them some of the upside when the market rises, and guarantees retirement income for life.

With consumers pessimistic about the current state of the economy and the future, U.S. consumer confidence fell 32.4% in February from a month earlier, according to the RBC Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household Index.

It will be harder for advisers and money managers to outperform this year after a strong 2009, but there are still a few key areas of opportunity, Larry Adam, the chief investment strategist for Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, said during a conference call.