Portfolio

Consumer staples lead the push on the Russell 2000 Index.

U.S. small-cap equities on the Russell 2000 Index rallied to 604.87 by the market close of Aug. 25, up from the near 52-week low of 595.59 the previous day. The Aug. 24 close was only 40 points higher than the September 2, 2009 low of 555.83.

When Grail Advisors officially closes two of its active exchange-traded funds prior to the market bell on Aug. 30, the total universe of active ETFs will fall to just 28.

Outflows slowed to $597.3 million the week ending Aug. 23 after hemorrhaging $4.99 billion the week before, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. Total assets declined slightly to $340.75 billion from $341.34 billion.

Outflows slowed to $597.3 million the week ending Aug. 23 after hemorrhaging $4.99 billion the week before, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. Total assets declined slightly to $340.75 billion from $341.34 billion.

Moody’s Investors Service is pushing state and local issuers to agree to indemnify and hold it and its officers harmless for any mistakes they might make as a precondition to assigning ratings on municipal bond transactions, market participants said Thursday.

Fund managers and other experts say that target-date funds need to increase the amount of information they provide investors to understand their investment risk. But they don’t want the Securities and Exchange Commission to change the way the funds are named.

Investment funds, lawmakers and other fund experts say that target-date funds need to increase the amount of information they provide investors to understand their investment risk. But they don’t want the Securities and Exchange Commission to change the way the funds are named.

Outside of currency and fixed-income plays, active exchange-traded funds are struggling to gather meaningful assets.

A group of investors Wednesday sued the accounting giant Ernst & Young for allegedly misrepresenting the financial status of the defunct hedge fund Parkcentral Global after they lost a total of $17 million in the fund.