Portfolio

Putnam Investments has unveiled the industry’s first absolute-return target-date funds, which will combine both conventional investing strategies with absolute-return methods that seek to mitigate market volatility.

T. Rowe Price’s new website gives financial intermediaries faster, easier access to more in-depth data and industry news, according to the company. The new site Troweprice.com/fi, which replaced the firm’s old site, features three main navigation sections: funds, adviser resources and news and updates.

Inflows to certain types of mutual funds reached the highest levels of the year in the week ended Sept. 17, The Wall Street Journal reports, potentially as a sign of renewed investor confidence.

So much for the recession impacting the American consumer for years to come. When it comes to their outlook on retirement, the majority of Americans, once again, are overly bullish on their expectations for quality of life, Allianz Global Investors found in a survey.

The Treasury Department has proposed several improvements for Section 529 college savings plans, including the use of age-based index funds and the elimination of home-state biases.

Kennedy Joins Lincoln as Head of Retirement Unit

Wirehouses are projected to lose $188 billion in client assets this year due to adviser migration, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates. And those losses are expected to continue over the longer term as well.

Labor Department Backs Off Proposed Retirement Advice Rule

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida - Mutual fund boards are grappling with their increasingly expanding roles as risk overseers, management coaches and shareholder advocates as the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to add new rules and raise its expectations, including the creation last week of the Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation.

Given the number of tactical and absolute-return mutual funds hitting the market, it appears that some fund complexes are now giving their portfolio managers more leeway. The 17 individual traders who run ProfitScore Capital Management's multi-manager long/short unified hedge account accomplish this by actively trading mutual funds within their individual specialty. They primarily buy funds from Rydex, ProFunds and Direxion, including funds that permit intraday trades. Money Management Executive recently spoke with John McClure, CEO of ProfitScore, about this unusual approach.