Portfolio

An estimated $9.2 billion flowed out of long-term mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday, Nov. 30, according to the latest statistics by the Investment Company Institute, a trade association for U.S. investment companies.

The Hartford will hire up to 50 in its mutual fund sales distribution unit, in a push to beef up this division.

U.S. Bancorp has launched a new exchange-traded funds service, ETF-Fusion, which helps existing or start-up ETFs with product development, administration and trade support, proprietary technology and regulation and compliance.

Investors dumped shares in late trading Thursday on reports that German officials rejected some of the EU summit draft measures intended to help extricate some Eurozone nations from their daunting sovereign debt issues.

Markit, a specialist in valuations and post-trade processing for swaps and other non-exchange traded products, has launched a service to help US mutual funds and other institutional investors find a fair value for their bonds.

LPL Financial said it has added more than 500 net new advisors this year, bringing it close to 13,000. The additions came as the company prepared hikes in the fees it charges them.

As equity funds across different regions, capitalizations and investment styles plummeted between -15% and -26% in the third quarter, publicly traded asset managers were hit with an average 8.9% decline in fee-earning assets under management, Moody’s said Thursday. U.S. small-cap stock and emerging markets indices suffered the sharpest losses.

When planners help clients manage their wealth, it is important to help them recognize the deep emotional sources of philanthropy.

In 2012, the U.S. life and annuity insurance industry will be challenged to find ways to manage both capital and risk in an economically and politically uncertain year, while continuing to lay the groundwork for future growth, according to Ernst & Young's new Global Insurance Center U.S. Outlook report.

The Dow Jones Industrial average moved up 46 points to close at 12,196.37 Wednesday while the S&P 500 added 2.54 points to finish at 1,261.01.