Portfolio

Advisor sales productivity reached $228,684 in 2010, up from $216,738 in 2009, according to Kehrer-LIMRA’s founder Ken Kehrer and chief operating officer Scott Stathis, at the 2011 Bank Insurance and Secruities conference in Hollywood, Fla. Hiring also is up.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Brent crude oil futures for April 2011 delivery ended the week’s trading session at $115.78 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange at close Friday evening.

LIMRA released a list of its top 20 writers of overall total annuities, variable annuities and fixed annuities for 2010.

Even if you outsource stock picking, or buy only mutual funds, somebody somewhere has to select stocks.

The dispersion of performance between best and worst performers narrows.

But only 10% think blue-chip stocks will be the best performers this year.

Municipal bonds have notched a good week as governments’ willingness to refrain from borrowing means investors with money to spend mostly have to chase existing bonds in the secondary market.

Certified public accountants expressed their highest level of optimism on the U.S. economy since the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest AICPA/UNC Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey, in which 1,168 CPAs were queried. In addition, the CPAs’ expectations for hiring and capital spending on IT and other areas improved slightly.

Thirty-six percent of the 1,019 investors that Edward Jones surveyed said they believe technology will be the best-performing sector in 2011, and 31% are betting on gold.

Assets in 529 college savings plans have grown 56% in the past 24 months, beating industry estimates by 30%, Financial Research Corp. told the College Savings Foundation at its annual conference in San Diego yesterday.