Portfolio

Wells Fargo Funds Management has launched the Wells Fargo Advantage Dow Jones Target 2055 Fund, a target-date fund benchmarked against the Dow Jones Target 2055 Index and sub-advised by Global Index Advisors, State Street Global Advisors and Wells Capital Management.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has been selected as the investment manager for New York’s $1.9 billion 529 college savings plan. After completing the extensive request for proposal process, J.P. Morgan said, negotiations will now begin on the details of the seven-year agreement.

No, it can’t be. Has the 15-year saga started by Anna Nicole Smith, as she tried to get money from the estate of her deceased husband, really come to an end?

Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, have become increasingly popular among investors because they're more liquid and tax efficient than mutual funds and give them exposure to stocks, bonds and commodities they otherwise might not be able to access.

The wind is at the back of alternative energy and it has a sunny future that investors should prepare to capitalize on. That’s the word from Anna Davydova, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Select Environment and Alternative Energy Fund.

The Vanguard Group has issued industry results from its “How America Saves 2011” report, based on the 3.2 401(k) investors it serves in 2,500 plans. The industry that saves the most in 401(k) plans is both small and large utilities (9.0% and 8.2% average contribution rates, compared to an average of 6.8%).

As the economy falters amid recent market volatility and mixed labor reports, second quarter employee confidence related to job security, pay raises and the job market has retreated to levels last seen in the height of the recession, according to a survey of 2,203 adults by Glassdoor.

The number of dividend increases rose 32.5% in the second quarter of 2011 to 444, up from 335 in the second quarter of 2010, Standard & Poor’s Indices said.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has been selected as the investment manager for New York’s $1.9 billion 529 college savings plan. After completing the extensive request for proposal process, J.P. Morgan said, negotiations will now begin on the details of the seven-year agreement.

Continued scrutiny by regulators and legislators on the fees and outcomes of 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans is pressuring revenues at asset managers, advisers and recordkeepers and will shape the future of the DC retirement plan market, according to a new study from Financial Research Corp., “Trends in Retirement/401(k) Plans and Administration.”