Portfolio

Credit Suisse said its Wealth Management clients contributed net new assets of $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter, even as its investment banking business took a steep plunge that led to a loss for the company as a whole.

These products set a new global monthly record of $9.1 billion of inflows in January 2012, soundly besting the previous record of $6.7 billion of inflows set in January 2009, according to BlackRock.

Investors pushed stocks slightly higher Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on 5.75 points to finish at 12,883.95 while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 rose 12 points and 3 points, respectively.

The vast majority of executives responsible for 401(k) plans at their companies are feeling less confident that employees are financially prepared for retirement, according to a survey by Deloitte.

U.S. equity funds took a beating the week ended Wednesday, February 1, losing an estimated $1.8 billion in investor flows, according to statistics released today by the Investment Company Institute.

The seven hedge fund benchmark indexes operated by alternative investment manager IndexIQ on average rose more than 3% in January, according to January 2012 performance data released by the firm.

The newly created firm’s target net-worth range is broad enough to allow Angeles Wealth Management to allocate clients’ money in a wide range of asset classes.

Independent broker-dealer and RIA Lincoln Investment Planning has agreed to buy broker-dealer and RIA Capital Analysts from Western & Southern Financial Group, the firms announced. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, is expected to close in the second quarter of this year.

J.P. Morgan had a product up its sleeve for its broker-dealers on Aug. 4. That was the date it put the servicing of more than one million accounts onto a new broker-dealer platform, known as Morgan Communications or MORCOM. The online system was to serve both retail and institutional brokers.

NYSE Euronext said trading activity on its derivatives and stock exchanges fell more than 17 percent in January, compared to a year ago. But volume was up from December.