Portfolio

Check out coverage from last year's roundtable

Assets in money market mutual fund assets decreased by $33.2 billion, in the week ended Dec. 15, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.

Ever since September 2008, clients are asking for more than you can possibly deliver: to keep track of the macro-economic big picture and help them get out of the market as soon as we start moving into another meltdown period. So the question is: How can we possibly respond to these lofty expectations?

Who exactly is feeling so confident about the markets? Are they the same people who aren’t saving anything and failed a (very easy) financial literacy test?

Hedge fund managers found it a little easier to hang out their own shingles in the third quarter.

Deutsche Bank launched two ETFs for values based investors this week. Both will directly invest in a portfolio of securities, rather than rely on swaps, or “synthetic” index replication.

Equity funds lost $1.4 billion, while bonds had outflows of $1.66 billion.

Start-ups are benefitting from stronger industry inflows and increasing investor tolerance for risk.

The fourth quarter delivered the highest deal volume since 2007, said the accounting firm, which added that financial sponsor-backed offerings continue to drive IPO volume. Led by China, Non-U.S. issuers contributed 49% of quarterly IPO activity.

U.S. equities are the primary beneficiary of improving global investor sentiment, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for December.About 44% of respondents expect the world’s economy to strengthen in 2011. And with the continuing problems in Europe’s debt market, investors are turning to U.S. equities, according to the survey.