Portfolio

Stocks plunged again Thursday on concerns that Europe is still struggling to prevent its persistent debt crisis from spreading to some of its largest economies, pushing several to the brink of a recession.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it suspended an Illinois broker for 16 months for manipulating trades using spoofing and other tactics.

The downgrade of U.S. debt may have led to more market volatility than the Flash Crash.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index for the U.S. increased 0.5% in July to 115.80 ( 2004 = 100 ), marking the third month in a row that the index has risen. June saw a 0.3% gain, and May say a 0.7% increase.

Van Eck Global has introduced the Market Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF (ticker: MORT).

In light of the recent market volatility, a new report from Fidelity Investments analyzing the performance of 401(k) balances between Oct. 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011 is quite telling—giving a testimonial to the value of sticking with the stock market even amid the worst declines.

More than $40 billion flowed out of all forms of mutual funds in the week that featured the first-ever downgrade of U.S. debt.

Cantor Fitzgerald is in the process of launching an ETF Arbitrage business that will provide customers with two-sided ETF markets, encompassing full-service execution, research and market color.

Fidelity Clearing Canada has enhanced its Streetscape workstation with additional market research news and information as well as syndication data on new issue distribution and reporting.

Aside from a disappointing sales outlook from tech leader Dell, investors had little economic data to react to or run from Wednesday, resulting in a fairly eventless day of trading across the board.