Portfolio

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has posted a $3.55 billion loss for the last quarter of 2007, blaming rising home loan defaults.

The wealth management unit of Citigroup Inc. has agreed to buy Legg Mason Inc.’s managed account trading and technology operations.

Hall Capital Names Boneparth as President

The vast majority of retirees opt against voluntarily annuitizing retirement savings. So, insurers need to better educate consumers about immediate annuity benefits.

MIAMI-As the burden of responsibility for retirement planning continues to shift toward the individual, investors should be cautious about "fast analysis" investment advice, a top financial executive told attendees at the NICSA conference here last Tuesday.

U.S. money manager Legg Mason denied market rumors this week that one of its money market funds had fallen to below $1 in net asset value, commonly known as "breaking the buck."

Hedge funds are increasingly trying to attract assets from institutional investors, and in their quest to do so more funds are implementing 130/30 strategies, traditionally a long-only product, according to Investment Dealers' Digest, IMW's sister publication.

Some people have compared playing the stock market to horseracing, which would suggest that being a winner calls for either praying hard and often or studying the stock tables closely. Marek Fludzinski, founder and CEO of Thales Fund Management, said a better idea is to study physics.

MIAMI - Asset managers have been looking to complex trading strategies such as 130/30 funds to create additional alpha, but experts stress that investors should be careful to fully understand these products, and use them carefully.

Some of the municipal bond market's biggest insurers are making significant changes in leadership and structure in efforts to address their current problems stemming from exposure to subprime mortgage-backed securities.