Portfolio

Vanguard, BlackRock, Schwab and State Street are deadlocked in a fierce price competition.

Morningstar honors Bob Goldfarb and David Poppe.

Since August, the funding status for the typical U.S. corporate pension plan has posted a more than 13 percentage point improvement, marking the largest four-month positive swing for the BNY Mellon Pension Summary Report since it was created in 2006.

Assets held in exchange-traded funds reached $994.5 billion by the end of 2010, according to data compiled by the National Stock Exchange. That is up 27.1%, compared to a year earlier

Assets held in exchange-traded funds reached $994.5 billion by the end of 2010, according to data compiled by the National Stock Exchange. That is up 27.1%, compared to a year earlier.

Morningstar announced its 2010 Fund Managers of the Year Wednesday. The awards are based not just on performance in 2010 by over the long term, as well as on fiduciary responsibility for investors’ capital.

Global X Funds on Wednesday launched the Global X Aluminum ETF, which it says it the first exchange-traded fund globally focused on aluminum. The fund tracks the Solactive Global Aluminum Index

U.S. REITs continued to significantly outperform the broader equity market in 2010, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts said Wednesday. U.S. REITs rose 27.95% in 2010, compared to the S&P 500’s 15.06% gain.

Equity funds delivered 16.57% in 2010, with more than one-third of the gains, 6.43%, coming in during the last five weeks of the year, Lipper said.

Putnam Investments has promoted Robert E. Alan to head of North American consultant relations and Keith E. Thomas to head of international consultant relations. The two will work with the consultants who advise institutional investors on investment strategy and the selection of managers.