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Forty-two percent of hedge fund managers became bearish on stocks in August, up markedly from 27% who were pessimistic on equities in July, according to a survey by BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research. This is the largest percentage of bearish hedge fund managers in a year.

Natixis Global Advisors has acquired a controlling interest in Darius Capital Partners, an investment advisor that offers a menu of third-party hedging strategies. These include Undertakings for the Collective Investment of Transferable Securities (UCITs), managed accounts, hedge funds, hedge fund replicators, funds-of-funds and alternative exchange-traded funds.

The vast majority of retail advisers now use alternative products or strategies for their clients-but that number is a bit misleading, a new study finds.

Mutual funds looking for new and more effective ways to interact with their Baby Boomer clients-or find new ones-should be inspired by a new Pew Research Center report that found social networking participation among this highly coveted group surged more than 60% in the past year.

Investors have developed a serious aversion to U.S. equity mutual funds, which is upsetting the balance of fund flows, according to Morningstar.

Using central clearinghouses to process swap transactions will be a lot safer than the current process of two parties negotiating a contract between themselves, right?

It's been 10 years.

Morningstarhas promoted William Harding to head of manager research for its investment management division, a new position in which Harding will develop best practices in investment manager research and selecting.

Just as the term "Golden Years" has fallen by the wayside, the entire concept of a traditional "retirement" may be on the verge of becoming obsolete.

Event: The representative for a broker of mutual funds goes to a customer's home. On her personal computer is a form, half-filled out. It's got the fund buyer's name, address, current account information, and contact details in the right interactive fields. All that remains is to fill out is the name, symbols and amounts of new funds to purchase.

The spike in market activity and volatility spurred by the downgrade of U.S. debt, the debt-ceiling contratemps in Congress and the European sovereign debt overhang did not drive overall trading volume to record levels in August.

WASHINGTON — Although Federal Reserve Board officials promised to unveil a long-awaited package of key Dodd-Frank rules by the end of the summer, the central bank is likely to need more time to complete them.

They may long to give up their daily commutes and have wide-open schedules, but far too many Baby Boomers are largely unprepared to leave their jobs, according to a new report by the Insured Retirement Institute.

Even though the stock market has been extraordinarily volatile over the past month, most investors are not changing their allocations to stocks and bonds, according to the RCB Consumer Outlook Index.

Janus has launched the Janus Aspen Moderate Allocation Portfolio, specifically designed for the insurance channel. The portfolio is a fund-of-funds that will invest in other Janus products with a target of 60% of its underlying holdings in stocks and 40% in fixed income.

Left Coast Solutions has developed iJoin, an application for Smartphones and other mobile devices that helps investors determine how much they need to save for retirement to replace their monthly income.

PIMCO has launched the PIMCO Credit Absolute Return Fund, a go-anywhere type of fixed income fund that will employ some hedging strategies, including shorting and credit default swap derivatives, and be managed by Mark Kiesel.

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ordered Wedbush Inc. and one of its former brokers to pay $2.9 million in damages and fees to an elderly investor who allegedly fell victim to a faulty investment scheme.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., the world’s largest custodian bank, said late Wednesday said that Robert Kelly stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer due to differences with the bank’s directors over his management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking public comment on the use of derivatives by mutual funds over the next 60 days after publication in the Federal Register. If it determines that new regulations to protect investors are necessary, the SEC will consider passing and enforcing them.