Portfolio

With news that the economy might be on the mend and that roughly two-thirds of employers are considering reinstating 401(k) matches in the next 18 months, it is not inconceivable that a new 401(k)/pension hybrid that becomes available to employers on Jan. 1, 2010 could gain traction, Kiplinger’s reports.

Senior banking and financial services executives believe strong profitability and revenues will return in 2010, but that their sector will lag the broader economy, KPMG found in a survey.

Global X Management launched the Global X FTSE Nordic 30 ETF on the NYSE Arca on Wednesday. The exchange-traded fund tracks the largest and most liquid companies in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway through the FTSE Nordic 30 Index.

Institutional investors' optimism about the global economy has soared to its highest level in nearly six years, and portfolio managers are putting spare cash back into the stock market, according to the Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey.

While mutual fund executives and analysts warned earlier this year that some of the holdings of stable-value funds were questionable and that they were in danger of breaking the buck, that no longer appears to be true, The Wall Street Journal reports.

High-yield bond funds have returned an outstanding 33% year-to-date and attracted $14.6 billion in assets, TheStreet.com reports. And for the 10 years through the end of July, high-yield bonds gained 2.9% annually, compared with the 2.2% loss in the S&P 500 Index.

It is remarkable that the federal appeals court judge who dissented on the Jones v. Harris Associates case made a point of saying that executive compensation needs to be reined in, The New York Times reports.

A full 70% of Americans aren’t sure how they’ll be able to save enough for retirement, Bankrate.com found in a recent survey. Another 50% worry about being able to send a child through college.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued a joint investor alert today warning investors about the risks associated with leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds.

Mutual funds that focus on a select sector or small number of stocks are outperforming more broadly based portfolios, The Wall Street Journal reports. These funds rely on in-depth research to invest in only a couple dozen of stocks, rather than the average 172. Thus, they are riskier—but have the potential for outsized returns.