Portfolio

DOL Drops Controversial Advice Rule

NEW YORK - Investors and money managers looking to diversify their portfolios by getting into commodities and commodity exchange-traded funds should keep in mind the volatile nature of these products, as well as the wide range of possible risks, experts say.

Two college-savings companies are borrowing a page from the consumer cash-back loyalty playbook, offering customers rebates on services including refinancing mortgages or opening online bank accounts. Futuretrust, a unit of Destination Maternity Corp., and Upromise Investments have partnered with a series of other financial services companies to offer rebates that can be swept into section 529 college-savings plans.

The financial services industry has been pulling in solid profits lately, but experts say firms should be mindful about how they dole out year-end bonuses and to keep the focus on rewarding long-term performance.

Van Eck Global has introduced the Market Vectors Poland ETF, an exchange-traded fund that offers investors pure-play exposure to Poland, the world’s 18th largest economy.

Thirty-eight percent of senior mangers around the world believe the economic crisis will end by the second quarter of next year, Atradius found in a survey of 3,500 executives in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The use of wiretaps and recordings of conversations to help underpin the insider trading case against the Galleon Group hedge fund struck legal experts as unusual, for an investigation involving the Securities and Exchange Commission.

GAMCO reported that its profits in the third quarter rose 23% to $14.7 million, or 53 cents per fully diluted share, compared to $12 million, or 43 cents per share, a year ago. On a sequential basis, assets under management increased 14.5% from the previous quarter to $24.5 billion.

A Boston federal jury ruled in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission in a case against a former Fidelity Investments trader accused of sharing inside information on Covad Communications with his mother, tipping her off when the fund giant was about to make a large purchase of the stock.

While retail investors have largely sat out the broad market rally that started in March, continuing sound economic indicators and resilient stocks should entice them back in, The Globe and Mail reports.