Portfolio

A panel of JPMorgan Chase strategists and portfolio managers this week made it clear that while there are opportunities for equities investors in the U.S., there are better options in both developed international equities markets and in emerging markets.

Direxion has launched five new daily leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, focused on sectors that have attracted large assets and have high trading volume.

Enrollment in high-deductible health insurance plans that can be linked to health savings plans rose 14% in 2010, according to the trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans. And since 2008, enrollment has in such plans spiked by 87%.

Orange Business Services said it launched an online store for selling applications that can run on its intelligent trading turret devices. The apps will run on its Open Trade smart turret, introduced in 2010 and intended to be used as a “personal trading assistant.''

A new survey from Polachi Inc., a Framingham, Mass.-based executive recruiter for clean technology and venture capital firms, found that 77% of venture capital executives are more confident and optimistic about their industry today than they were a year ago.

Farrah Fawcett, dying from cancer, floated in and out of consciousness and needed a full-time nurse when Ryan O’Neal interceded to appease NBC and make sure a documentary about Fawcett’s struggle with cancer aired in time for the May sweeps period. At least, that’s the picture painted in a recent New York Times article.

The 1976 film “All the President’s Men” made famous the line "follow the money" and inspired an entire generation of muckraking journalists. Now some analysts at Standard & Poor's are saying their research shows this philosophy could also serve as a good starting point for identifying strong-performing mutual funds.

IndexIQ has launched the IQ US Real Estate Small Cap ETF (ticker: ROOF), which it says is the first ETF focused on small-cap U.S. real estate.

The fund will be sub-advised by four global advisory firms.

Positive yet cautious hiring intentions are expected to persist throughout the summer, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. The Net Employment Outlook for the third quarter is +8%, up from +6% in the third quarter of 2010.