Portfolio

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services has introduced a second generation of its PRIME Elements iPad application for retirement plan advisers and consultants.

Eaton Vance Management has launched the Eaton Vance Municipal Opportunities Fund, a fund that employs an opportunistic approach to investing in municipal obligations, with the aim of maximizing after-tax total return.

Average daily volume in stock trading is averaging 7.6 billion shares this year, according to a rundown of statistics at the market structure panel run Tuesday by Richard Repetto of Sandler O'Neill, the respected industry analyst. Once upon a time, they would call this a doldrum.

Direxion has launched five new daily leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, focused on sectors that have attracted large assets and have high trading volume.

A panel of JPMorgan Chase strategists and portfolio managers this week made it clear that while there are opportunities for equities investors in the U.S., there are better options in both developed international equities markets and in emerging markets.

Direxion has launched five new daily leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, focused on sectors that have attracted large assets and have high trading volume.

Enrollment in high-deductible health insurance plans that can be linked to health savings plans rose 14% in 2010, according to the trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans. And since 2008, enrollment has in such plans spiked by 87%.

Orange Business Services said it launched an online store for selling applications that can run on its intelligent trading turret devices. The apps will run on its Open Trade smart turret, introduced in 2010 and intended to be used as a “personal trading assistant.''

A new survey from Polachi Inc., a Framingham, Mass.-based executive recruiter for clean technology and venture capital firms, found that 77% of venture capital executives are more confident and optimistic about their industry today than they were a year ago.

Farrah Fawcett, dying from cancer, floated in and out of consciousness and needed a full-time nurse when Ryan O’Neal interceded to appease NBC and make sure a documentary about Fawcett’s struggle with cancer aired in time for the May sweeps period. At least, that’s the picture painted in a recent New York Times article.