Portfolio

According to the survey, 70% of RIAs cited market volatility as the top concern among their clients, while 99% said it was among clients’ top three concerns. Only 6% of RIAs said wealth accumulation was a top client concern.

Asset management firms recorded average profitability of 28% through 2010 and the first half of 2011, according to a new McKinsey report.

When it comes to mutual fund wholesaling, social media is a young man's game. Sales and distribution today are still all about in-person connections.

Total inflows to long-term mutual funds were $836 million for the week ended Nov. 9, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Eight in 10 advisors who sell annuities report that they are having more client discussions about retirement income planning than they did five years ago. And nearly two-thirds of advisors currently selling annuities indicate that guaranteed income options are expected to increase in importance over the next five years -- more so than any other factor.

HSBC Jintrust Fund Management has launched an on-shore RMB money market fund in China, raising RMB1.16 billion, or US$178 million, in its initial public offering, ended Oct. 28.

Stocks and bonds are moving in the opposite direction more so than anytime in the last 10 years.

Nearly nine out of 10, 87%, of Americans think the country will fall into another recession within the next two years, a Country Financial survey finds. However, only half, 51%, say they are prepared to handle it financially.

Calling the odds of a recession in the U.S. and beyond “uncomfortably high,” Morgan Stanley Smith Barney says it has shifted to an overweight position in safe haven assets and is underweighting risk assets. The change is “the most significant change to our tactical asset allocation in more than two years,” Morgan Stanley Smith Barney’s Chief Investment Officer Jeff Applegate and two colleagues wrote in a November markets report.

NEW YORK—“We believe in back-to-basics, commonsense investing with the goal of achieving some return above inflation while seeking lower volatility,” said Suzanna Hutchins, investment manager of global funds at Newton, an affiliate of BNY Mellon.