Portfolio

NEW YORK -- Most retirement planners agree that retirees should maintain some equity exposure during retirement in order to keep up with inflation and a retirement that could last three decades or longer, but what this level of exposure should be -- and whether or not the government should set some parameters -- is being widely debated.

The U.S. should adopt a Systemic Risk Council made up of top financial regulators, according to Investment Company Institute President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens, during testimony July 23 before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

Federated Investors reported second quarter profits of $53.3 million, or 52 cents a share, a 3% decrease from the $55.2 million, or 54 cents a share, it earned in the second quarter of 2008. It beat analysts’ consensus of 50 cents a share.

Lisa Myers, manager of the Templeton Growth Fund, told the Globe & Mail that while she is unsure whether the recent rally is a sure sign the market is turning around, she thinks there are plenty of compelling bargains, technology being one of them.

T. Rowe Price reported second quarter profits of $100 million, or 38 cents a share, down 38% from $162.2 million, or 59 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue decreased 24% to $442.2 million.

Over the next eight months, Old Mutual will cut its lineup of 42 mutual funds by about half and eliminate 45 administrative and sales positions.

Boston’s seven biggest mutual fund companies saw a slight increase in the assets of the stock and bond funds in June, The Boston Business Journal reports.

To MetLife, variable annuities are not an all-or-nothing proposition.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Thursday that it fined five bank broker/dealers $1.65 million for deficient supervision of the sale of mutual funds, variable annuities and unit investment trusts. In most of the cases, the sales were to elderly customers.

Edward Jones is no longer selling leveraged exchange-traded funds, calling them “potentially dangerous” for average investors.