Portfolio

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index rose in March, its sixth straight monthly gain. Now at 100.9, it is up from 100.3 in February and has gained 8% from a year ago.

Moody’s Investors Service has lowered its outlook on Fidelity Investments from “stable” to “negative.”

Fidelity Investments has increased the size and capabilities of its London fixed income office, enhancing its ability to service institutional clients through Pyramis Global Advisors as well as Fidelity’s mutual fund clients in the U.S.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched the Goldman Sachs High Yield Floating Rate Fund. It invests in below investment-grade, floating-rate loans and other variable-rate securities issued by U.S. and foreign companies. The fund’s investment objective is to generate a high level of current income.

Columbia Management has launched two absolute-return funds, the Columbia Absolute Return Multi-Strategy Fund and the Columbia Absolute Return Enhanced Multi-Strategy Fund. Both funds use multiple strategies to reduce portfolio volatility.

TD Ameritrade has opened its five fund-of-fund portfolios, the Amerivest ETFs, to include exchange-traded funds. Previously, the portfolios only invested in mutual funds.

John Paulson, the founder of hedge fund giant Paulson & Co., earned a record $4.9 billion in 2010 overseeing a fund that exited the year with more than $36 billion under management, according to a survey.

Twenty years of research shows that companies with the strongest earnings deliver the best near- and long-term stock performance.

The municipal securities market is beset by problems that defy easy solutions, academics and experts told municipal analysts Friday.