Portfolio

To MetLife, variable annuities are not an all-or-nothing proposition.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Thursday that it fined five bank broker/dealers $1.65 million for deficient supervision of the sale of mutual funds, variable annuities and unit investment trusts. In most of the cases, the sales were to elderly customers.

Edward Jones is no longer selling leveraged exchange-traded funds, calling them “potentially dangerous” for average investors.

Legg Mason’s Bill Miller tells investors in his latest quarterly report that a new bull market is underway and that technology and financial services stocks will lead the way out of the recession.

Flows to long-term stock and bond funds were $6.61 billion in the week ended July 15, the Investment Company Institute said.

DST Systems reported second quarter profits of $48.7 million, a 2% dip from the $49.9 million it earned in the second quarter of 2008.

MFS Investment Management said it will add analysts, relationship management executives and salespeople to its staff, as a result of strong sales this year.

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.