Portfolio

With regulatory reform bringing a wave of changes to defined contribution plans, advisers need to be even more conversant in the ins and outs of legislative requirements and other complexities. Which is why BlackRock is beefing up its commitment to advisors who work with these retirement plans.

The country's seventh-largest, fee-only RIA has carved out an exclusive and extremely profitable niche providing full-service investment advice and services to the ultra rich.

Last year saw a 22% increase in M&A worldwide, and another 36% increase is expected this year, according to Thomson Reuters.

Seventy percent of investors believe the S&P 500 will increase by the end of the year, compared with only 33% who were bullish on the market in August, a survey by MoneyShow.com found.

U.S. investors added $9 billion more to ETFs than they withdrew in January, marking the fifth consecutive month of positive flows for the sector.

As the expiration of the Build America Bond program loomed last year, the market was wracked with uncertainty about just who was going to buy long-term tax-exempt bonds. Thanks to the drought of new municipal bond issuance in 2011, the market is still wondering.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority will begin formally examining the operations of broker-dealers this year. Here are 11 holes to plug, based on a FINRA letter to chief compliance officers on Feb. 8.

Retail investors in municipals are shaken, but still standing, after a relentless barrage of negative media hype surrounding forecasts for massive municipal bankruptcies and defaults later this year.

Advisors and regulators expect one rather odd twist for college savings plans.

Consumer Reports said that its Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index rose for the third straight month in a row, to 58.7. The index was 54.2 last month and 53.4 in February 2010.