Portfolio

Custom target date funds are proliferating at the expense of their off-the-shelf counterparts. That’s due to plan sponsors wanting to have greater control over what’s in a fund.

They call it the “January Effect.” Whether it’s the by-product of those Wall Street guys reinvesting their legendary year-end bonuses or individual investors jumping back into the market after selling for year-end tax reasons, the Dow Jones Industrial Average historically gets a nice little (and sometimes huge) bump during the first month of the year. This January was no exception. The Dow rallied up 415.35 points, or 3.4%, this January – the best January percentage gain since 1997. Here’s an interactive slide show highlighting the 5 best-performing Dow component stocks for January 2012:

The 10-year outlook for the global stock market is likely to be attractive despite elevated market volatility, below-average growth projections and short-term interest rates around 0% in the U.S., according to the latest research from mutual fund manager Vanguard.

The 10-year outlook for the global stock market is likely to be attractive despite elevated market volatility, below-average growth projections and short-term interest rates around 0% in the U.S. That’s according to the latest research from mutual fund manager Vanguard.

Energy stocks were especially hard hit Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 20.81 points to 12,632.91 while the Nasdaq inched up 1.90 points to end at 2,813.84.

FINRA has filed an enforcement complaint against David Lerner, the operator of a brokerage aimed at retail investors, claiming he misled investors when he tried to quell customer concern about an action taken against his firm for its marketing of real estate securities.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is urging the Federal Reserve Board, the SEC and other financial regulators to exempt all municipal securities from the Volcker Rule, warning the failure to do so would bifurcate and hurt the municipal market without increasing the soundness of the banking system.

Bennett Group Financial Services launched four mutual funds available through financial professionals, banks, brokerages and insurance companies for their clients. The new additions are the Bennett Conservative Fund; Bennett Moderate Fund; Bennett Growth Fund; and Bennett Aggressive Growth Fund.

Lynne A. Goldman, Fidelity Investments Institutional Services' executive vice president of investment product management and marketing, talks about how the business helps advisors help investors.

Investment Guidance Solutions introduced a software tool for mutual fund investing, that gives buy or sell signals based on whether it is better to be invested in a specific fund or in cash.