Portfolio

After a period of booming sales in first quarter of 2011, annuity sales through banks have fallen off significantly, according to a new report by Kehrer-LIMRA, the banking industry research unit of LIMRA.

BlackRock reviews its accuracy for the year so far. Barclays advises on building a muni porfolio. Raymond James sees reasons to buy.

American Beacon Advisors has launched the American Beacon Flexible Bond Fund, which seeks to deliver positive returns no matter what the market direction by investing in a broad range of fixed income instruments.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index gained 0.50 percentage points in June, rising from 99.5 to 100.00—an increase of 5.4% from June 2010.

So whatever happened to that Armageddon in the $475-billion municipal bond fund market?

John Hancock Financial Network already serves 2,000 financial advisers and independent broker-dealers who do business with 401(k) plans across the United States, to date, John Hancock's 401(k) support has been limited to access to asset managers. Further, John Hancock never branded its name on its defined contribution platform, instead allowing advisers to use their own.

Euro Pacific Asset Management has launched the EuroPac Hard Asset Fund, a new investment product designed to mitigate against inflation and the dollar devaluation.

Late last year, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney warned investors that between 50 and 100 municipalities were headed for default and that the carnage would cost investors hundreds of billions of dollars. But at the midway point of 2011, that's hardly been the case.

American workers lapsed into investing inertia after the market collapsed in 2008, but standing still actually benefited many and helped their workplace retirement plan balances rebound by 31% between 2007 and 2010, Vanguard said.

After a strong start in the first four months of 2011, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds both saw cash flow out of products that invest long-term in stocks at the end of the second quarter.