Alternative investments

The energy and commodities sectors have dropped significantly below their 200-day moving averages and are now in sell territory, says Tom Lydon, editor of ETF Trends and president of Global Trends Investment.

India’s booming fund management industry has started to decline as the Indian stock market has plunged nearly a third so far this year, Reuters reports.

One year after one of the hedge fund industry's most talked-about collapses, failed fund manager Jeffrey Larson is raising capital for a new fund.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examination released a new ComplianceAlert recognizing common flaws and weaknesses among mutual fund companies.

Pershing Limited, an affiliate of the subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, Pershing LLC, recently announced the addition of four mutual funds to its Nexus Funds platform.

New income and precious metals funds are now available for Canadian investors within Investors Group (IG). They are the Putnam U.S. High Yield Income Fund and IG Mackenzie Global Precious Metal Class.

Investors looking to hedge the continuing slide of the U.S. dollar may want to consider investing in one of Rydex’s eight CurrencyShares exchange-traded funds.

John Hancock Variable Annuities has launched a new value-added program that aims to help advisors expand their business by developing guaranteed retirement income plans for their clients.

BOSTON - Excessive fees in some 401(k) plans are hurting the reputation of all 401(k) plans and shaking investor confidence in what most financial experts agree is a great way for the majority of Americans to save for retirement.

BOSTON - Workers love pension plans, but providing 20 to 30 years of benefits to a huge retired workforce can cripple most companies' profits.

Investors alleging wrongdoing by their stockbrokers can choose to go to court or face an arbitration panel of three people, including one person from the brokerage industry and two from the public.

Stock mutual funds saw an inflow of $2.39 billion during the week ending July 23, compared to an outflow of $3.02 billion the previous week, according to TrimTabs Investment Research firm.

Second-quarter client assets at Fidelity Investments' brokerage unit grew 2% from a year earlier, to $1.92 trillion.

Asset Management firm Van Eck Global recently launched its Market Vectors-Gulf States Index ETF on the NYSE Arca.

According to the data in the Northern Trust Universe, the majority of U.S. institutional investors posted negative returns for the quarter ending June 30 - the third negative quarter in a row for participating plans in the study.

eSecLending, an administrator and provider of customized securities lending programs, recently announced its creation of Securities Financial Global Advisors (SFGA), a registered investment advisor (RIA), to further carry securities lending for mutual fund cash collateral in the U.S.

The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) recently announced its acquisition of 10% interest in the O’Shaughnessy Asset Management (OSAM) firm.

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. urged Congress to finish legislation that would create a regulator for government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and financially shore up the two mortgage financing giants.

The European Union proposed a new set of rules Thursday to make Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) even more efficient by eliminating additional regulatory hurdles. Most notably, the rules- which will replace 10 directives with just one and go into effect in 2011-will allow cross-border mergers of funds, making Europe's mutual fund industry more efficient. They will also permit master-feeder structures and eliminate much of the administrative paperwork currently required to market funds to other markets in the European Union of 27 member states.

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