Portfolio

Institutional broker dealer MF Global Holdings has hired Greg Shonhorn for its fixed- income group in New York effective Sept. 7.

The Swiss financial services company will pay $425 million for a minority stake in the New York hedge fund manager.

The fixed-income trend is leading the bumper inflows for bond-heavy fund families, while investors continue to punish American Funds for not being “bear-proof.”

Fixed-income funds held their siren-like draw for investors, contributing largely to long-term mutual funds’ $16.8 billion in inflows in August, according to a Morningstar analysis.

State Street Global Advisors has launched a global natural resources exchange-traded fund.

The U.S. economy is on an expansionary, albeit sluggish, path—not toward a double-dip recession, says BNY Mellon Chief Economist Richard B. Hoey. In the near term, however, hold onto your hats: The “most pronounced weakness in the U.S. economy” will become apparent in the second and third quarters of this year, he says.

Altegris Advisors has launched the Altegris Managed Futures Strategy Fund, an actively managed mutual fund aimed at both retail and professional investors. In launching the fund, the alternative investments manager noted that in the past decade, U.S. stocks declined 17%, but managed futures gained 122%.

Government workers are not sitting pretty on top of fat future pensions. More realize that their pensions could be under pressure in the future, and that their government employers are shifting more of their retirement burden onto workers. The smart government and municipal employees—especially those who are slated to only receive a partial pension and are being guided to save in a 457 or other defined contribution plan—are looking to save more.

Advisors are turning to annuities, using tactical asset allocation and continuing to move to fee-based business models, as they cope with the effects that the sluggish economic climate is having on their practices, according to findings from the latest Russell’s Financial Professional Outlook, released last week.

The SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF began trading on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday.