Portfolio

The world's largest asset management firm will be the first company to list securities on a BATS Global Markets electronic venue that now competes for listings on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market.

Spending on hardware, software and communications all is expected to grow by more than 5% this year, in the latest Gartner forecasts. Is this the year that not just trading firms, but companies of all stripes get bullish on technology spending, again? Here's a snapshot look at the consulting firm's prognostication.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average trimmed 13 points to finish at 12,449.45 while tech stocks continued their recent resurgence on the heels of a pair of encouraging economic reports.

Equity funds saw outflows of $9.4 billion for the week of Jan. 4, 2012, according to numbers released by the Investment Company Institute.

How investors go about making decisions in uncertain and volatile markets can have long-lasting implications, especially when bias and emotion enter in. The field of behavioral finance has shown that human beings can’t be presumed to take the most logical, rational approach to investing. So if not logic, just what is affecting our decisions? A recent report from Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Wealth Management Research team outlines psychological and social factors that affect how we make financial decisions. Be aware of these factors to help you avoid some psychological pitfalls that regularly affect professional and amateur investors alike. Source: Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Private Wealth Management Research

Schwab Retirement Plan Services already serves 1.5 million workers saving for retirement, but hopes that its new Schwab Index Advantage service will increase participation even more by demystifying the 401(K) saving process.

The Internal Revenue Service’s initiative to determine whether municipal bonds are being initially offered at prices that fail to comply with tax requirements has left issuers upset and confused about the definition of issue price and what specific abuses the IRS is looking for.

With performance under par, hedge fund managers got smaller year-end bonuses for 2011, according to the Hedge Fund Compensation Report.

A date is set for the exchange-traded equivalent of the world's largest mutual fund to get going.

Drum roll, please.