Portfolio

Investors yanked a record volume of cash from BlackRock Inc.’s exchange-traded fund that buys junk bonds as the notes lose value for the first month since May.

Despite the volatility of the last few years and the continued economic malaise in much of the developed world, global stocks are still attractive, according to executives at Morgan Stanley.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue new rules for money-market mutual funds, triggering fresh opposition from industry leaders who had beaten back similar proposals and are pursuing a weaker overhaul.

The Investment Company Institute and the chairman of the ICI Money Market Working Group, William McNabb, who is also the chief executive officer of Vanguard, are speaking out against the Financial Stability Oversight Council’s meeting yesterday to discuss money market fund regulation.

Prudential Retirement has strengthened its stable value team with the appointment of Michael Davis as its new head of stable value.

One could only imagine what George Jefferson — the wise-cracking character who was “movin’ on up” on the 1970's TV hit, The Jeffersons — would have said about this predicament. The body of actor Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson, has been kept on ice for the last 3 1/2 months.

The Schwab IMPACT 2012 Conference opened Tuesday in Chicago. The annual gathering of independent investment advisors, now in its 21st year, will go on through Friday bringing together the industry’s best and brightest advisors.

Change is in the air for money market funds and this time it looks like proposed reforms, in whatever form they may take, are going to stick.

“The financial advisor is critical, as he or she has the job of opening the estate and trust accounts," Peter Lang wrote in a white paper. "This can only be done once the will has been probated, the executor has been appointed, and a Tax Identification Number has been issued by the IRS.”

The Board of Trustees of the Praxis Core Stock Fund has decided to fold it into the Praxis Growth Index Fund citing poor performance on the part of the Stock fund, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing.