Dave Lindorff

Merger and acquisition activity remained robust in the second quarter with more than $631.4 billion worth of deals announced -- up 35% from the year-ago quarter -- but down significantly from the $769 billion in deals unveiled in the first quarter.

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have become increasingly popular among investors because they're more liquid and tax efficient than mutual funds and give them exposure to stocks, bonds and commodities they otherwise might not be able to access.

The wind is at the back of alternative energy and it has a sunny future that investors should prepare to capitalize on. That’s the word from Anna Davydova, portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Environment and Alternative Energy.

In a major sting operation by a joint task force involving the Securities and Exchange Commission’s South Florida Regional Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami and the FBI, an alleged scheme involving several penny stock promoters and several CEOs of microchip companies has been exposed, with fraud charges filed against the principals.

When it comes to sovereign risk ratings, it could be a case of "out of Greece and into the fire" as venerable credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's this week joined Moody’s in issuing a sobering warning that Italy could be the next European nation in line for a downgrade.

American investors are in risk-aversion mode and are not likely to get out of that funk until interest rates start rising. That’s the fundamental conclusion of Morningstar senior stock analyst Greggory Warren.

USAA, a financial institution and insurance provider serving military service people and their families, topped the latest J.D. Power & Associates' survey of self-directed investors' satisfaction while Merrill Edge, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's consumer brokerage unit, checked in last.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced a settlement with broker-dealer Raymond James Financial involving $350 million worth of auction rate securities which the regulatory agency claimed were marketed and misrepresented by the firm's reps as “safe, liquid alternatives” to money market funds and other highly liquid investment vehicles.

The wave of share buybacks by public companies, which took off in the first quarter of 2011 when companies bought back nearly $90 billion shares, is continuing with buybacks through June 3 totaling $263 billion, up from $164 billion by the same date last year.

While France has devised a plan to roll over Greece’s debts and the Greek parliament -- in the face of a national strike and major protests -- just passed austerity measures requested by the European Union, these early signs that worst of the Greek debt crisis is over doesn't mean investors can relax and assume all is well.

Securities Fraud Attorney Mark A. Tepper has filed a new round of claims with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) against Minneapolis-based Questar Capital, alleging “failure to supervise” a Questar Capital broker-dealer named Edward Gelb.

Investors -- institutional and individual -- continue to be cautious, favoring conservative funds within the equities area and favoring debt over riskier investments. But any sense of serious worry among investors seems to be waning.

A trio of new bond fund products on offer by Fidelity, iShares and PIMCO provide smaller investors with the opportunity get more of the benefits of a bond ladder without the usual bond fund downsides.

While the zero or near-zero interest-rate policies of central banks around the developed world are continuing, trading of active cash treasuries and their corresponding futures products remains active and interest rate futures markets both in the U.S. and Europe continue to grow and to add new products and new competition.

Sure, the economy is looking weaker these days, but fears about a double-dip recession are “overblown,” according to researchers at the money management firm Lord Abbett.

The Financial Planning Coalition, a group that includes several organizations representing thousands of financial advisors, this week released a copy of a petition it sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking the regulatory agency to extend the definition of fiduciary standard to include “anyone providing personalized investment advice to retail clients.”

Conventional wisdom these days suggest that the U.S. dollar remains a safe haven for investors compared to the euro, which is under considerable pressure due to the growing debt crisis facing Greece and a few other European countries. But at least one analyst contends investors shouldn't be so quick to assume these macroeconomic developments are necessarily good for the U.S. dollar.

Morgan Keegan & Co. agreed to a $200 million settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and five state securities regulators that resolves a civil case brought against the firm last year accusing top executives of defrauding investors by artificially inflating the value of mortgage-backed securities in several of its mortgage bond funds.

In bull markets, many investors may overlook the importance of dividends. But when markets become more tentative or start to slump, dividends can look a lot more attractive and one S&P analyst found some international funds investors should be watching.

Henry Kaufman, one of the first economists to earn the now overused sobriquet “Dr. Doom” is now warning that the conglomeratization of financial institutions, the continued securitization of non-marketable assets and the extreme leveraging which led to the most recent crash leave the global financial system vulnerable to new and potentially more devastating crises.