Portfolio

When financial services leaders are no longer confident, where does that leave the rest of us?

Financial advisers and investors may want to heed some cautionary words from several economists at the Wharton School who think that the country's current economic recovery will remain a sluggish affair and, whenever it does stabilize, it will likely mark the beginning of a "new normal" that's less robust and prosperous than prior cyclical peaks.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index increased 0.8% in May to 114.7 (2004 = 100), following a 0.4% decline in April and a 0.7% increase in March. The largest contributions came from the interest rate spread, consumer expectations and housing permits.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority Wednesday will competitively bid $300 million of building aid revenue bonds, including $100 million of taxable qualified school construction bonds.

In anticipation of the U.S. dollar's declining value, many investors are busy adjusting their portfolios to get more exposure to other major currencies. But a new research report from Merk Investments suggests that they may not be nearly as diversified as they need to be.

BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded fund division has launched the iShares Floating Rate Note Fund (ticker: FLOT), its first floating rate fund.

Overall, hedge funds had generally positive performance numbers since January. But May numbers, when isolated, told a much different story.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans are not confident the U.S. economy will rebound within the next year, a survey of 1,011 adults by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards found.

Citigroup has completed an "extensive upgrade" of its electronic trading infrastructure and now says it is providing institutional clients with continuous, 24-hour access to global markets.

Registered Fund Services and UMB Fund Services have jointly developed a turnkey registered hedge fund program.