Portfolio

Mutual fund managers have been increasingly gravitating toward alternative investments as a way to boost returns and compete with hedge funds. By some estimates, alternative investment funds could soon account for as much as 10% of assets in mutual funds.

It isn't often that mutual fund firms launch remarkable, truly unique new products. Certainly, exchange-traded, lifecycle, 130/30 and emerging-market funds have been among the most significant and popular offerings in recent years.

WisdomTree Retirement Services, a unit of WisdomTree Investments of New York, is the latest firm to launch a platform designed for the 401(k) market that offers plan sponsors a combination of ETFs and mutual funds, or a selection of all ETFs combined into preset portfolios.

Pioneer Investments of Boston has undertaken a global initiative to bring its investment management capabilities to the developing markets of India and Russia. The goal is to be among the top five players in those two markets in three years.

It isn't often that mutual fund firms launch remarkable, truly unique new products. Certainly, exchange-traded, lifecycle, 130/30 and emerging-market funds have been among the most significant and popular offerings in recent years.

Funds With Structured Products Turn to Fair Value

In joining the parade of mainstream wealth managers starting alternative investments units, MFS Investments of Boston is making a long-term commitment to giving its institutional investors access to emerging hedge fund managers.

Automatic enrollment and automatic escalation will be the two most significant developments of defined contribution plans over the next three years, according to 401(k) plan advisers polled by Putnam Investments.

As smaller hedge funds increasingly expand into foreign countries, they must pay as much attention to building solid operational infrastructure as they do to chasing alpha.

Speaking at a hedge fund conference in Greenwich, Conn., Securities and Exchange Commission regulators indicated that they are conducting 30 investigations into hedge fund trading in the Northeast alone, Reuters reports.