Portfolio

Investors displayed faith in all types of mutual funds for the week ended Wednesday, January 25, adding a total of $11.6 billion to equity, bond and hybrid funds, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Investment Company Institute.

Inflows increased 68%, from the $6.9 billion mutual funds posted the week before.

Franklin Resources a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments ended the year with total assets under management of $670.3 billion, up $10.4 billion or 2% during the quarter.

An investment research and consulting company said it is releasing a suite of software tools for analyzing mutual funds based on the “three-factor” model of University of Chicago finance professor Eugene Fama and Dartmouth College professor Kenneth French.

As part of the arrangement, Adams Hall will retain its name and gradually integrate its operations and systems into Mariner’s over time.

Antitrust regulators in Europe stopped the merger of Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext on Wednesday, saying the combined group would have a stranglehold on the listed European futures market and would thwart new entrants.

NYSE Euronext said it would focus on its “standalone strategy,’’ while Deutsche Boerse declared this a ‘black day’ after the European Commission prohibited the merger of the two exchange operators.

President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget will propose a 28% cap on the value of tax preferences, including tax-exempt interest for municipal bonds, according to knowledgeable sources.

Just over three-quarters—76%—of advisors who have recently shifted to an independent business model say they're better off financially, according to a new study by Fidelity Investments. And 64% of those who say they're better off were better off within six months of their move, according to the study.

Not all trusts are created equal, especially when it comes to protection in a divorce.