Portfolio

Spectrem Group’s Affluent Investor Confidence Index rose three points to negative-10 in February, returning to neutral territory for the first time since November. The increase in the index, which measures the investment outlook of households with $500,000 or more in investable assets, follows a two-point advance in January and brings the index to neutral from mildly bearish for only the second time since February 2008.

A “new frugality,” born of The Great Recession and two consecutive years of declining consumption—the first time since the Great Depression—is becoming entrenched consumer behavior that will persist for years even as the economy rebounds, inevitably reshaping marketing strategies for financial services and other leading companies, a Booz & Co. survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers shows.

Citigroup is looking to sell a hedge fund unit with $4 billion in assets under management to SkyBridge Capital, according to The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the talks.

For anyone still not convinced that Build America Bonds are transforming state and local government finance, behold a municipal bond mutual fund that has filed a prospectus in French.

Robust deal activity seen in the sector

Fidelity Investments has introduced a brokerage trading application complete with real-time news and quotes, interactive charting and watch lists for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The program lets users trade stocks, options, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.

TD Ameritrade has reorganized its 13,000 mutual fund offerings into four different investment objective categories and turned to independent mutual fund research company Morningstar to rate the “Premier List” of funds.

Some advisors say selling the firm should not always be the main objective.

As more affluent individuals lose faith in their advisors opportunities arise for strong wealth managers to scoop up new clients.

Last year alone, the company was hit with $25.5 billion in redemptions, and in the previous year, $16 billion.