Finance

Mohamed El-Erian, widely viewed as the successor to Pimco's Bill Gross, resigned after six years as the firm struggles to stem record redemptions from the world's largest bond fund.

Congress dangled an incentive for high-income Americans to convert their tax-deferred individual retirement accounts into post-tax plans. Their response was overwhelming.

Investors’ 12-year love affair with gold ended in 2013 as they abandoned the precious metal for stock markets in the world’s developed economies, lifting global share prices by the most in four years.

Individuals in same-sex marriages will be entitled to the employer benefits of their spouse even if they live in a state that doesn’t recognize their union, the U.S. Labor Department said.

America’s biggest employers, from GE to IBM, are increasingly moving retirees to insurance exchanges where they select their own health plans, an historic shift that could push more costs onto U.S. taxpayers.

Tax treatment, good or bad, can make or break an investment decision. Here are the top 10 tax mistakes made by investors according to a survey of investment advisors.

Married gay couples living in all U.S. states can file joint federal tax returns, even if local authorities don’t recognize their marriages, the Obama administration said today.

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit agreed to pay $160 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit filed by black financial advisors, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said.

As the U.S. bond market suffers its worst rout since 2009, the gauge that historically signals more pain for fixed-income investors is instead suggesting yields are near their peak.

We have all heard that the best way to have loyal clients and get referrals is to consistently exceed your clients' expectations.

Federal Reserve policy makers have wrung out some risk in financial markets by signaling plans to wind down $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, buying time to press on with record stimulus should the economy need it.

David Blain, a financial adviser in New Bern, North Carolina, likes exchange-traded funds so much he’s put all his clients’ money in them. He also thinks individual investors trading ETFs on their own may be in for surprises when markets come under stress.

Barclays Plc’s investment-banking chief Rich Ricci and wealth-management head Tom Kalaris, two of the last remaining members of former Chief Executive Officer Robert Diamond’s management team, will step down.

Will Rogers has been quoted as saying, “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” Earlier this year, Congress passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which may have prevented us from falling off the fiscal cliff, but further complicated the already complex world of income taxation of estates and trusts.

House Republicans, rejecting President Obama’s demand for higher tax rates, countered with a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan that would trim Medicare and Social Security and cap tax deductions for top earners.

Stocks advanced as U.S. equity markets resumed trading for the first time this week after Hurricane Sandy. Most European shares rose as airlines reported better-than-estimate earnings, the euro strengthened and gasoline climbed to a two-week high.

U.S. equity markets will reopen today after the longest weather-related shutdown in more than a century, resuming after the New York Stock Exchange was spared by Hurricane Sandy as it swept through New York Oct. 29.

ING Groep NV, facing a regulatory deadline to sell its insurance business, is pressing prospective buyers of operations in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to also acquire part of its Japanese unit, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

Prudential Financial Inc. has emerged as the lead bidder for Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.'s individual life insurance business, which may sell for about $1 billion, said two people with knowledge of the matter.

Knight Capital Group Inc. received a $400 million cash infusion through the sale of convertible securities after trading losses spurred by a software failure drove the market maker to the brink of bankruptcy.