Special Program Root Tag

Only seven months remain until new rules from the Internal Revenue Service on cost-basis reporting take effect.

Sure, it's easier to grow quickly from a smaller base.

Great-West Life & Annuity has hired Joe Greene as chief marketing officer, a new position at the firm. Greene reports to President and Chief Executive Officer Mitchell Graye.

After a strong first four months of 2011, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds both saw cash flow out of products that invest long-term in stocks at the end of the second quarter.

John Hancock Financial Network already serves 2,000 financial advisers and independent broker-dealers who do business with 401(k) plans across the United States, to date, John Hancock's 401(k) support has been limited to access to asset managers. Further, John Hancock never branded its name on its defined contribution platform, instead allowing advisers to use their own.

American workers lapsed into investing inertia after the market collapsed in 2008, but standing still actually benefited many and helped their workplace retirement plan balances rebound by 31% between 2007 and 2010, Vanguard said.

The John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index fell four points in the second quarter to 18, down from 22 in the first quarter, when John Hancock debuted the index.

Euro Pacific Asset Management has launched the EuroPac Hard Asset Fund¸ designed to mitigate against inflation and the dollar devaluation.

After reaching its highest point since the beginning of the recession, 46.7 in June, the RBC Consumer Outlook Index retreated by three points to 43.7 in July.

After rising in the first quarter, The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence retreated sharply in the second quarter to 55, down 12 points from 67. While still above 50, which reflects a more positive than negative outlook, the reading seems to indicate chief executive officers are bracing for slower growth.

Bank of America subsidiary Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp. has been ordered to pay hedge fund clients Rosen Capital Partners and Rosen Capital Institutional $63.7 million plus interest for an arbitration case dating back to the height of the financial crisis.

Hedge fund managers have turned decidedly bearing on U.S. equities and the economy, according to a survey of 87 managers by TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge.

The Discover U.S. Spending Monitor, a daily poll of 8,200 consumers tracking their confidence in the economy and spending intentions, recorded its largest one-month decline in June, falling 4.4 points from 89.5 to 85.1—indicating that the majority of Americans believe the economy and their own personal finances are worsening.

Wells Fargo Funds Management has launched the Wells Fargo Advantage Dow Jones Target 2055 Fund, a target-date fund benchmarked against the Dow Jones Target 2055 Index and sub-advised by Global Index Advisors, State Street Global Advisors and Wells Capital Management.

The wind is at the back of alternative energy and it has a sunny future that investors should prepare to capitalize on. That’s the word from Anna Davydova, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Select Environment and Alternative Energy Fund.

The Vanguard Group has issued industry results from its “How America Saves 2011” report, based on the 3.2 401(k) investors it serves in 2,500 plans. The industry that saves the most in 401(k) plans is both small and large utilities (9.0% and 8.2% average contribution rates, compared to an average of 6.8%).

As the economy falters amid recent market volatility and mixed labor reports, second quarter employee confidence related to job security, pay raises and the job market has retreated to levels last seen in the height of the recession, according to a survey of 2,203 adults by Glassdoor.

The number of dividend increases rose 32.5% in the second quarter of 2011 to 444, up from 335 in the second quarter of 2010, Standard & Poor’s Indices said.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has been selected as the investment manager for New York’s $1.9 billion 529 college savings plan. After completing the extensive request for proposal process, J.P. Morgan said, negotiations will now begin on the details of the seven-year agreement.

Continued scrutiny by regulators and legislators on the fees and outcomes of 401(k)s and other defined contribution plans is pressuring revenues at asset managers, advisers and recordkeepers and will shape the future of the DC retirement plan market, according to a new study from Financial Research Corp., “Trends in Retirement/401(k) Plans and Administration.”