Portfolio

The dispersion of performance between best and worst performers narrows.

But only 10% think blue-chip stocks will be the best performers this year.

Municipal bonds have notched a good week as governments’ willingness to refrain from borrowing means investors with money to spend mostly have to chase existing bonds in the secondary market.

Certified public accountants expressed their highest level of optimism on the U.S. economy since the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest AICPA/UNC Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey, in which 1,168 CPAs were queried. In addition, the CPAs’ expectations for hiring and capital spending on IT and other areas improved slightly.

Thirty-six percent of the 1,019 investors that Edward Jones surveyed said they believe technology will be the best-performing sector in 2011, and 31% are betting on gold.

Assets in 529 college savings plans have grown 56% in the past 24 months, beating industry estimates by 30%, Financial Research Corp. told the College Savings Foundation at its annual conference in San Diego yesterday.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF, rounding out its suite of Latin American exchange-traded funds.

Equity funds see inflows of $2.53 billion, down from $6.42 billion the week before.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously agreed to propose amendments to its Rule 2a-7 that would remove all credit rating references from the rule, which requires money market funds to invest in high-quality and very liquid short-term securities.

Advisors face two major challenges in today’s environment: intense competition for client assets and pressures on profitability. Kelly Coughlin of GlobalBridge says that unified managed accounts have evolved to provide a solution to both challenges at once. But how can advisors use UMAs to expand their business?