Portfolio

Stocks rose 2.19%, or 259.89 points, Friday on positive news out of Italy and Greece. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week 1.42% higher.

Affluent investors are very much in tune with the state of the nation, and except for some attractive stock valuations, they don’t like what they see. These was the main finding of a survey that Fidelity Investments took of 3,000 affluent investors, polling them in person or via a webinar at an Inside/Out Roundtable at 85 Fidelity Investor Centers nationwide.

Alabama issuers should not see their ratings lowered by the Jefferson County bankruptcy action, but investor perception could take its toll on future issues.

Investors may be fleeing from mutual funds that invest in U.S. stocks for the long haul. But that does not mean they’re fleeing U.S. stock funds.

Retail reaction to the announcement that Jefferson County, Ala., filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history is likely to be muted, yet will still be closely monitored, portfolio managers say.

Fidelity Investments has introduced two new emerging markets funds, the Fidelity Total Emerging Markets Fund and the Fidelity Emerging Markets Discovery Fund. The first fund invests in equities and bonds, the second in small- and mid-cap stocks.

Fidelity Investments has introduced two new emerging markets funds, the Fidelity Total Emerging Markets Fund and the Fidelity Emerging Markets Discovery Fund. The first fund invests in equities and bonds, the second in small- and mid-cap stocks.

The Insured Retirement Institute said third-quarter annuity sales rose to $57 billion in the third quarter, up 5% from the year-ago period. Sales year-to-date were $175.4 billion, up from $163.1 billion in 2010.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management is proposed a fundamentally different approach to defined contribution plans by stripping down offerings a complexities to a menu of just three choices: a diversified stock portfolio, a diversified bond portfolio and one offering diversified cash alternatives.

NYSE Euronext said the volume of stock trading it handled in the United States dropped again in October, after peaking in August.