Portfolio

Forward has expanded its institutional and intermediary sales forces with a slew of new hires.

RiverNorth Capital Management today filed a registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a new mutual fund—the RiverNorth/Oaktree High Income Fund.

The $5.5 billion Franklin Templeton Founding Funds Allocation last week got a Negative rating from research shop Morningstar.

Indexed annuity sales increased 8.3% and income annuities were up 6.1% in the second quarter, according to Beacon Research. It was the second-best quarter ever for those product types, Beacon said in a press release. Total fixed annuity sales were also up, but with a more muted 1% gain in the quarter. And they declined 17.2% from the year-ago period. …

Global assets invested in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products reached a record $1.76 trillion through the end of August 2012.

Global assets invested in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded products eclipsed the $1.7 trillion threshold in August - an all-time high.

With 478 advisors in 40 states, Independent Financial Partners is LPL's largest branch, but the Tampa, Fla., based firm certainly won't rest on those laurels. Currently, less than a dozen IFP advisors are fee-only, according to William Hamm Jr., the company's CEO, but that is about to change.

As investing in alternatives such as real estate, private equity funds, hedge fund strategies and commodities grow in popularity, the way these are being used by institutions and investment advisors is changing.

Can it possibly be? Technology stocks are paying the most dividends?

In a nod to the competitive pricing pressure roiling the financial services industry, Advisor Group, one of the largest independent broker-dealer networks in the nation, has eliminated, or drastically reduced, the mutual fund fees it was charging to clients of its financial advisors.