Ruthie Ackerman

Morgan Stanley is in the midst of hiring sales staff to improve its its fixed income, currencies, and credit businesses in the hope of regaining client wallet share, according to Nomura Securities analyst Glenn Schorr.

Investors are far more bullish than they were even three months ago, according to a quarterly survey released Monday.

Large U.S. retirement plan sponsors believe defined contribution plans should be mandatory, and include auto enrollment, savings escalation and employer contributions, according to a study by Northern Trust.

Even though small business owners have seen improvements in their businesses, they do not expect an economic rebound until the second half of 2011, according to a Business Confidence Survey released on Monday by Administaff.

The fallout from the financial reform bill is still up in the air, but the wealth management industry expects compliance and service costs to rise.

Because women live longer, require more care and tend to be the primary caregivers in their families, long term care falls disproportionately on their shoulders. Yet according to a recent survey by Genworth Financial women face challenges talking to their families about putting together a financial strategy to deal with long term care.

A recent realignment of The Hartford Financial Services Group resulted in a new position for Jim Davey running the company’s mutual fund business.

On Wednesday Adhesion Wealth Advisor Solutions announced it improved its WealthADV technology platform to provide more ways for investment advisors to communicate with clients. The newest development: clients can now check their portfolios and performance reports with the iPad as well as most Mac and Microsoft Windows-based devices.

The fourth annual College Savings Indicator study found that the percentage of college costs parents are projected to meet is only 16%, down from 18% last year, and 24% in 2007, the first year of Fidelity’s survey. However, those who work with an advisor are projected to meet 28% of college costs, down from 34% last year.

An increase in medical costs is forcing Americans to rethink their savings priorities, with many choosing to pour more money into monthly retirement savings, The First Command Financial Behaviors Index revealed.

On Tuesday Northern Trust's asset management arm, Northern Trust Global Investments, launched a Frontier Markets index fund for institutional investors with exposure to under-represented regions such as Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as a Asia and the Americas.

For all those young investors out there who are willing to take more risk with their retirement plans because of their longer time horizon, Vanguard has a new fund for you.

Raymond James Financial won the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit on Monday after the judge in the case said the complaint was too long and didn’t contain enough facts.

Investors are more optimistic in August than they were in July, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

After pleading guilty to an investment scam that defrauded 34 clients out of over $700,000, a former Merrill Lynch advisor was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday.

Bank of America is rumored to be considering selling its 34% stake in BlackRock, according to The Wall Street Journal. Now the question is whether the bank is looking to get out of asset management altogether.

One out of three Millennials report their financial position is worsening, according to a new survey by Western Union.

Younger investors are converting to Roth IRA’s in greater numbers than those nearing retirement, according to a report by Fidelity Investments.

While many are concerned about a double dip recession, the good news is that lenders are optimistic about the economy, according to a Phoenix Management survey.

As fear of a double dip recession continues to hang over the heads of the American middle class, the middle class savings tumbled to an eight-month low, according to a report by First Command released on Wednesday.