Portfolio

Nasdaq OMX and risk analytics developer Axioma have launched a family of indexes that will give investors exposure to commodity spot prices, through the use of stocks.

For many planners with high-net-worth minimums for their clients, target-date funds don’t make sense for a variety of reasons. But in the right circumstances, they can be helpful tools.

Wasatch Funds has launched what it touts as “one of the few no-load open-end mutual funds focused exclusively on frontier and smaller emerging market countries,” including Africa and Southeast Asia.

The top concern was over the quality and selection of investment options in traditional plans, with over half of RIAs surveyed naming this as their chief issue.

State Street Corporation has appointed Dick Taggart to the post of head of Middle Office Outsourcing Operations across North America for the company’s investment manager services business.

There’s a lot of investor and advisor interest in alternative investments as a means to hedge against market volatility and to diversify a portfolio (all while boosting returns). Steve Hammers, chief investment officer and portfolio manager of the Compass EMP Alternative Strategies Fund, spoke to Financial Planning about how to design and evaluate an alternatives strategy:

Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, the investment advisor to Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, has rolled out a fund that will invest in a wide range of alternative investments.

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. has rolled out the Westwood Short Duration High Yield Fund, which will bet on non-investment grade debt with expected maturities of three years or less.

Three big-name mutual fund shops, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, State Street Corporation and Federated Investors, are warning the SEC that eliminating the fixed $1 price of fund shares will scare away many investors who want some minimum level of value stability in their assets.

Three big-name mutual fund shops, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, State Street Corporation and Federated Investors, are warning the Securities & Exchange Commission that eliminating the fixed $1 price of fund shares will scare away many investors who want some minimum level of value stability in their assets.