Portfolio

Financial advisors across the spectrum -- at registered investment advisors, wirehouses and independent broker-dealers -- are at a loss when it comes to understanding liquidity of exchange-traded funds, according to research from Cerulli Associates.

A Texas man has been accused by regulators of running a Ponzi scheme involving the digital currency Bitcoin. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trendon Shavers with defrauding investors of nearly $150,000 worth of bitcoins through Bitcoin Savings and Trust, an online investment scheme he ran, and of making false claims while soliciting investments online in 2011 and 2012.

Financial advisors across the spectrum-at registered investment advisors, wirehouses and independent broker-dealers-are at a loss when it comes to understanding liquidity of exchange-traded funds, according to new research from Cerulli Associates.

Among the very wealthy, family foundations long have been a common vehicle for charitable giving. However, more families than ever are skipping foundations altogether in favor of simpler and cheaper donor-advised funds.

Participants in the 2013 CFO Outlook Mid-Year Update gave the U.S. economy an average score of 58 out of 100. This figure was up from 49 in the last survey conducted late last year. The global economy received a score of 51, up from 45.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Trendon Shavers with defrauding investors of nearly $150,000 worth of bitcoins through Bitcoin Savings and Trust, an online investment scheme he ran, and of making false claims while soliciting investments online in 2011 and 2012.

Demographics have led to desperation, and the next steps on that path have been towards the rich recruiting bonuses offered by wirehouses to productive advisors. Those tempting payments aren’t going away, but further improvements are “highly unlikely,” according to Mark Elzweig, who heads a New York-based executive search firm focusing on the asset management community.

Bloomberg — Herbert Allison Jr., the onetime president of Merrill Lynch & Co. who oversaw the U.S. government’s bank-bailout program following the financial crisis that led to his former company becoming a unit of Bank of America Corp., has died. He was 69.

The current market bodes well for certain sectors of stocks that have historically outperformed in rising rate environments, says a new Lord Abbett study.

Participants in the 2013 CFO Outlook Mid-Year Update gave the U.S. economy an average score of 58 out of 100. This figure was up f rom 49 in the last survey conducted late last year. The global economy received a score of 51, up from 45.