Investment insights

Vanguard researchers added up the benefit to clients of having smart financial advice. Here's how the numbers work out.

The number of consecutive weeks of outflows, as well as their overall amount, surpasses those of the last great exodus from muni bond funds that occurred back between late-2010 and early 2011.

Treasury 10-year yields fell from the highest level in more than two years as investors speculated whether the U.S. economy will improve enough for the Federal Reserve to end bond purchases in 2014.

Optimize Capital Markets has created a portal to automate capitalization deals of $2 million to $20 million. But along the way, it has found investors are not willing to part with their money in a completely automated way.

Fixed income funds dominate the space, but equity and futures funds may pick up speed soon.

Financial theorist William Bernstein raises the specter of 'deep' portfolio risk. Warning: This may get ugly.

Scandals surrounding the setting of some of the world’s most important financial benchmarks, which influence the prices people pay for everything from oil to mortgages, have shaken confidence in vital markets.

Outflows, weak supply, rising interest rates, and mediocre returns are forecast for the municipal market as it prepares to ring in 2014 — in other words: more of the same.

The globe-trotting Henderson International Opportunities Fund came to the Japan party a bit late, but had an outstanding year in Europe.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, seeking to bolster global oversight of derivatives trading, released determinations for when overseas rules are sufficiently robust to take precedence over Dodd-Frank Act measures on trades in foreign jurisdictions.

The U.S. economy expanded in the third quarter at a faster rate than previously estimated as consumers stepped up spending on services such as health care and companies invested more in software.

Jefferies Group, the securities firm owned by Leucadia National, said profit rose 68% as stock underwriting more than doubled and investment- banking revenue reached a record.

There’s a 40% to 60% chance that the Federal Reserve will announce a reduction in its asset purchase program tomorrow, according to Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pimco.

Very few funds have been able to maintain a top quartile ranking over the years, according to the S&P Dow Jones Indices’ S&P Persistence Scorecard.

With the new school year underway, clients are focusing on the best ways to use their 529 plan dollars. Don't let them make these mistakes.

These income-generating equities tend to behave differently from other stocks. They may deserve a portfolio allocation of their own.

CFOs gave the strength of the U.S. economy an average score of 53 out of 100 — up from 49 a year ago and the highest recorded rating in the last six years, according to the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2014 CFO Outlook survey.

A new HighTower project tries to determine whether the aggregated opinions of advisors and staff can offer meaningful insight into portfolio allocations.

World economic growth will pick up next year, paced by improvements in the U.S. and the euro area, Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pimco, said in an interview.

PFA A/S, Denmark’s biggest commercial pension fund, said it won’t put more money into the nation’s mortgage-backed covered bonds as a regulatory onslaught prompts investors to shy away from the securities.