Portfolio

Legg Mason’s Bill Miller tells investors in his latest quarterly report that a new bull market is underway and that technology and financial services stocks will lead the way out of the recession.

Flows to long-term stock and bond funds were $6.61 billion in the week ended July 15, the Investment Company Institute said.

DST Systems reported second quarter profits of $48.7 million, a 2% dip from the $49.9 million it earned in the second quarter of 2008.

MFS Investment Management said it will add analysts, relationship management executives and salespeople to its staff, as a result of strong sales this year.

Say what you will about variable annuities; they returned about 6% or more for investors in 2008 when others saw 40% or more of their holdings wiped out, The Wall Street Journal reports. In fact, they were one of the best investments of the past decade, due to their minimum guarantees.

Direxion has launched two leveraged real estate exchange-traded funds, the Direxion Daily Real Estate Bull 3x Shares and the Direxion Daily Real Estate Bear 3x Shares. Both attempt to deliver 300% the daily long and inverse performance of the MSCI U.S. REIT Index.

PIMCO is trimming its exposure to the debt of financial services companies along with high-yield bonds, apparently believing a correction is in the wings.

BlackRock reported second quarter earnings of $218 million, a 20% decrease from the $274 million it earned a year ago. Revenue also fell, by 26%, to $1.03 billion.

The board of directors of Freddie Mac has named Charles E. Haldeman, Jr. chief executive officer and a member of the board of directions. Until June 30, Haldeman was chairman of Putnam Investments, and previously president and CEO of the firm.

Buoyed by strong performance in the first half of the year averaging 9%, hedge funds’ assets under management rose by $142.5 billion, for a total of $1.43 trillion under management, Hedge Fund Research reported Tuesday.