Portfolio

Investor demand outlasted the end-of-summer doldrums with robust inflows to municipal bond mutual funds. But the past week saw those flows to weekly reporting funds fall to more modest levels, $256 million in inflows for the week ended Sept. 19.

Merrill Lynch Wealth Management has decided to increase its minimum equity trade fees to $75 from $50 following a year of research on how its pricing fits the market.

Gabelli Adds Hedge Fund Vet to Alt Unit

Cynthia Egan, head of retirement plan services at T. Rowe Price, is retiring on December 31.

Pewaukee, WI-based Capital Innovations is currently prepping a fund that will bet on timber and farm-related, the Journal Sentinel reports.

Broadridge Financial Solutions has launched Broadridge Fluent, a new service that aims to significantly improve communications between financial services firms and their customers via marketing, transactional and regulatory communications.

A survey from the Oechsli Institute reveals that advisors are underusing the personal aspects of social media to build client rapport.

Even as a new video has brought negative attention to Mitt Romney's campaign, a new poll finds financial advisors still think he's the best pick to lead the country.

CFO4LIFE, a Coppell, Texax, financial planning firm with more than $450 million in assets, announced Thursday it is departing from LPL Financial to become an RIA.

In 2013, asset managers will face the challenges of volatile markets, ramped up regulations, increased need for capital preservation, and a general tendency towards risk aversion. Yet even in a globally compressed economy, there are pockets of underlying opportunities and under-served investors. From our friends at Ceruilli, here are trends for advisors (and their clients) to watch in 2013.