Portfolio

When it comes to municipal bonds, broker-dealers face an unusual challenge that is beyond their control.

One fund focuses on dividends, the other on local bonds.

The recent bout of panic selling by investors in municipal bond funds reflects several factors, including headline risk due to predictions of widespread defaults, rising interest rates, the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, and rallying equities.

NEW YORK-Traders feel more optimistic about the stock market than they did six months ago, said Kelli Keough, vice president of active trading at Charles Schwab, at a breakfast briefing Wednesday, to announce the launch of the firm’s new platform for active traders.

State Street Global Advisors on Thursday launched the SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Dividend ETF and the SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF.

Male and female participants in MassMutual’s retirement savings plans had about the same among of their retirement assets in asset allocation options in the fourth quarter of 2010—24.3% for women and 24.0% for men. However, nearly all of the women’s allocation was to target-date funds, while the men had half their assets in target-date funds and half in risk-based options.

I’m all for the notion of having options, but if you look at just the ETF universe there are more than 1,000 on offer

Factor Advisors has launched five leverage exchange-traded funds that hold both a bull and a bear position. The initial FactorShares ETFs combine holdings in the S&P 500 Index, U.S. Treasury bonds, gold, oil and the U.S. dollar.

Vanilla as they may be, annuities still represent the lifeblood of many investors' portfolios because they deliver a steady, predictable income throughout retirement.

Equity funds net $6.42 billion, with the bulk going to domestic stock funds.