Portfolio

Home sales and housing starts began turning up in early 2009, according to the State of the Nation’s Housing report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. First-time buyers and government help drove an increase in existing home sales, while record foreclosures continued.

As their companies shift from recovery to growth, chief financial officers are becoming increasingly concerned about the external and internal factors that could threaten their progress.

Lincoln Trust Company has introduced the Personalized Expense Ratio for the 401(k) plans that it administers. The ratio is designed for participants, plan sponsors and advisers to see the actual cost of their plans without having to perform calculations themselves.

IndexIQ, the Rye Brook, N.Y., developer of index-based commodity and liquid alternative investment products, this week unveiled a new exchange-traded fund designed for investors looking for even more exposure to emerging markets.

The Rye Brook, N.Y. developer of index-based commodity and liquid alternative investment products, this week unveiled a new exchange-traded fund designed for investors looking for even more exposure to emerging markets.

Celebrity heirs fighting over the estate is far from uncommon but it is unusual when an ugly court battle starts before the celebrity even dies. That certainly has been the case with the Dennis Hopper estate.

Unless high-speed professional trading somehow leads to more Flash Crashes and everybody decides they need complete liquidity on all investments, how fast you can get in and out of these funds should not matter much.

Altegris Advisors has launched the Altegris Macro Strategy Fund, which it is characterizing as the “ultimate go-anywhere fund.”

Too many investors and even their financial advisors are not paying enough attention to “what’s under the hood” of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have become so popular with investors in the past two or three years, according to S&P equity analyst Todd Rosenbluth.

Munder Capital Management has launched the Munder Integrity Mid-Cap Value Fund and the Munder Integrity Small/Mid-Cap Value Fund, both of which are sub-advised by subsidiary Integrity Asset Management, a value specialist that Munder acquired earlier this year.