Portfolio

dividends_emerging markets_Forward Management

Global X Funds on Thursday launched the Global X Fertilizers/Potash ETF, giving investors access to what Global X calls a “critical” agricultural and commodity sector.

Outflows from equity funds totaled $25 million in the week ended May 18, the Investment Company Institute said.

The funds are tied to Russia and to global agribusiness.

For portfolio managers of municipal bond funds, the past several months haven’t been for the faint of heart. Still, muni fund managers report mixed experiences in riding out the prolonged flood of outflows.

Guaranteed living benefits were adopted, when they were offered with variable annuities, 86% in the first quarter, according to LIMRA. That was down from a peak of 90% in the first quarter of 2009, notes Dan Beatrice senior analyst, retirement research with LIMRA.

Direxion has launched four new leveraged exchange-traded funds, tied to the DAXglobal Russia Index and the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index. Each of the funds seeks 300% of the daily performance or the daily inverse of those indexes.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Canada Preferred ETF, an exchange-traded fund that targets Canadian companies that issue preferred stock. The fund tracks the Solactive Canada Preferred Stock Index.

Leona Helmsley, widely regarded as the “Queen of Mean” before she died at age 87 in 2007, left behind a fortune valued by some to be worth $40 to $80 billion. She earmarked twelve million dollars to take care of her dog, Trouble, until the Judge reduced it to a paltry $2 million.

Cortina Asset Management, a Milwaukee-based firm that manages assets for corporations, foundations and pension plans, has put together a new equity team to operate out of its new New York office.