Portfolio

On Feb. 14, Vanguard's 64,000 Facebook fans received virtual candy hearts with the messages:

Institutional investors continued the pattern established late in 2011 of reducing allocations to equities, according to results of the State Street Investor Confidence Index for February 2012.

American Beacon Advisors has added to its offerings two growth funds, one focused on small-caps and the other mid-caps, managed by Stephens Investment Management Group.

The chief economist of The Dreyfus Corporation said Wednesday that world growth will slow down again in 2012, based on International Monetary Fund calculation methods.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management has hired the former executive director of global asset management at UBS to the post of strategic accounts director with a focus on institutional clients.

Alternative mutual fund shop Direxion has hired Greg Blue to serve as senior regional sales director, focusing on the Florida market.

Advisors with clients who want to move money into real estate investments known as tenant-in-common offerings under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code need to be wary.

This is the week that actively managed exchange-traded funds get their biggest booster shot since they first arrived, less than five years ago: Bill Gross and PIMCO get into the game.

Joshua Levine, a former head of the America’s institutional sales team at The Permal Group, has joined BlackRock to lead the firm’s public and corporate pension plan effort in the East Coast.

Hungry for healthier returns, more mutual funds are investing in commodities, commodity futures, swaps and options.