Portfolio

Say what you will about variable annuities; they returned about 6% or more for investors in 2008 when others saw 40% or more of their holdings wiped out, The Wall Street Journal reports. In fact, they were one of the best investments of the past decade, due to their minimum guarantees.

Direxion has launched two leveraged real estate exchange-traded funds, the Direxion Daily Real Estate Bull 3x Shares and the Direxion Daily Real Estate Bear 3x Shares. Both attempt to deliver 300% the daily long and inverse performance of the MSCI U.S. REIT Index.

PIMCO is trimming its exposure to the debt of financial services companies along with high-yield bonds, apparently believing a correction is in the wings.

BlackRock reported second quarter earnings of $218 million, a 20% decrease from the $274 million it earned a year ago. Revenue also fell, by 26%, to $1.03 billion.

The board of directors of Freddie Mac has named Charles E. Haldeman, Jr. chief executive officer and a member of the board of directions. Until June 30, Haldeman was chairman of Putnam Investments, and previously president and CEO of the firm.

Buoyed by strong performance in the first half of the year averaging 9%, hedge funds’ assets under management rose by $142.5 billion, for a total of $1.43 trillion under management, Hedge Fund Research reported Tuesday.

Legg Mason reported earnings of $50.1 million, or 35 cents a share, for the quarter ended June 30, its first fiscal quarter for 2010, compared with a loss of $36.1 million, or 26 cents a share, in the comparable period of 2008. The company handily beat the consensus of earnings of 21 cents a share.

Fixed annuity sales jumped 74% to a record $35.6 billion in the first quarter, according to LIMRA.

Second quarter earnings of companies in the S&P 500 may be down 35.2%, but the results are not as bad as analysts had predicted, Investor’s Business Daily reports. Thus, many fund managers and analysts are expecting growth to return in the fourth quarter and continue into the first half of 2010.

Genworth Life and Annuity Insurance has launched RetireReady One, a streamlined variable annuity aimed at helping advisers more easily personalize a guaranteed income strategy for clients.