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The August reading of the Consumer Reports Index fell to 43.3, its lowest level since December 2009. Falling 5.1 points from 48.5 in July, the index registered its sharpest drop in two years.

Maribeth Kuzmeski, president of Red Zone Marketing, suggests financial advisors should embrace social media to promote themselves and find creative, meaningful ways to differentiate yourself from competitors.

As the financial markets hit investors with gale-force market dips, most advisors are telling their clients to drop anchor. And, at least in the short term, most investors heeded that advice as the Dow Jones Industrial average closed up more than 400 points Tuesday, just one day after losing more than 600 points, the sixth-largest, single-day decline in history.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fined a securities brokerage arm of Citigroup $500,000 for failing to supervise a former employee who misappropriated most of a million dollars from clients, including her own father.

SEC Slaps Mutual Fund Trader for Accepting Gifts From BrokersPrinter Friendly Email Reprints Reader Comments Share | August 9, 2011Chris KentourisThe Securities and Exchange Commission has upheld an administrative judge’s ruling that a mutual fund trader must pay more than $200,000 in penalties for accepting gifts from broker-dealers to steer trades their way.Like what you see? Click here to sign up for Securities Technology Monitor's weekly newsletter to get the latest news and analysis that matters to the effective operation of capital markets.The regulator didn’t buy the trader’s excuse that the mutual funds weren’t harmed.The SEC said that Robert Burns, a former equity trader at FMR Co., violated the Investment Company Act of 1940 by accepting the compensation from brokerage firms. Burns had to disgorge about $141,000 and interest of $67,205. He must also pay a civil penalty of $40,000. FMR is a subsidiary of Fidelity Management and Research Company that manages the Fidelity Investments group of mutual funds.Burns, who was dismissed by FMR in December 2004, sent orders to more than fifty brokerage firms. Of those fifty about ten gave him thirty nine gifts such as wine, travel and tickets to concerts, sporting events and theater productions. The gifts, according to the SEC included tickets to the Wimbledon tennis finals in 2002, 2003 and 2004; a case of 1993 Château Pétrus Pomerol wine in December 2003; tickets to see Prince, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and several other performers in concert; tickets to games involving the Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots and tickets to theater events including "The Lion King," "The Producers," "Avenue Q," and "Hairspray."Burns did not dispute that he received the gifts but insisted that they did not influence his decisions. He argued that the SEC failed to prove that any fund was harmed by paying a higher commission rate than otherwise available so he did not violate the Investment Company Act.However, the SEC countered that Burns had to prove that he did not violate his fiduciary duty. And even if he could do so, he would have to prove the gifts were unrelated to his role as an equity trader.“The record shows and Burns does not contest, that he accepted numerous gifts from multiple brokers to whom he directed and continued to direct securities transactions on behalf of mutual funds to which he, affiliated with the funds’ adviser, owed a fiduciary duty,” wrote the SEC in its ruling on August 5. “We therefore conclude that the division has made a prima facie showing that, in accepting these gifts, Burns’ interest conflicted with that of the investment companies he was advising.”The case involving Burns is the tip of the iceberg in charges filed by the SEC against Fidelity and several of its senior-ranking traders, over the alleged acceptance of bribes in exchange for steering business to select brokerages.Vincent Loporchio, a spokesman for Fidelity in Boston, said that his firm has taken steps to enhance its policies and procedures concerning conflicts of interest."We adopted additional written standards of conduct related to business entertainment and acceptance of gifts; expanded the role of our ethics office responsible for regulatory compliance and established a new level of management oversight for our trading department," he said.

Rockefeller Financial this week named Jeffery Moy as its new head of private equity where he'll oversee the wealth management firm's private equity and venture capital endeavors.

Financial Planning is pleased to announce our Second Annual Influencer Awards. These awards will recognize practitioners who have made significant contributions to the financial planning profession, from developing innovative portfolio and practice-management solutions to providing leadership for the advisory community.

Regional brokerage and investment banking firm Stifel Financial Corp.’s second quarter results took a hit as the firm wrestled with ongoing legal issues, while its global wealth management business’ revenue fell from the first quarter with decreased trading volumes.

How do you talk to your clients about the debt ceiling and budget battles when so many people are strongly -- perhaps not always rationally -- on one side or the other of the political divide? Suddenly, loss of confidence in our country's legislative and executive leadership is driving loss of confidence in the markets and it seems the two are now linked in ways that we may never have seen before.

Bowing to concerns about the costs of compliance, the Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to figure out just how much broker-dealers, transfer agents and banks must spend to track down owners of unclaimed securities accounts before it issues a new rule.