Special Program Root Tag

Consumer sentiment, as measured by the Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index, remains in negative territory in May for the second consecutive month, with consumers worried about slow job growth and news of the economic recovery stalling.

LPL again tops Financial Planning's annual ranking of the biggest B-Ds by revenue. But what other companies made the list?

Money Management Executive, a SourceMedia publication for executives in the asset management industry, is proud to announce the 9th Annual 2011 Fund Operations Awards, now called The NOVAs, with a number of exciting changes to the program.

Neuberger Berman has launched the Neuberger Berman Global Allocation Fund, a flexile, go-anywhere fund designed to serve as the core of an investor’s portfolio.

Alternative investment advisor Equinox Fund Management has launched the Equinox Commodity Strategy Fund, a market-neutral mutual fund that aims to exploit inefficiencies in the futures contracts market by taking both long and short positions.

BNY Mellon has launched BNY Mellon Connect Mobile, an application that gives customers access to its foreign exchange research and cash investment tool, Liquidity DIRECT Mobile, via an iPad.

ING’s U.S. Retirement Services business will offer the ESG Managers Portfolios, socially responsible asset allocation portfolios from Pax World Management and sub-advised by Morningstar, to the defined contribution plans it administers.

Highland Funds has merged the Highland Floating Rate Advantage Fund and the Highland Floating Rate Fund into the Highland Floating Rate Opportunities Fund, which offers better, daily liquidity features.

Vanguard is preparing to offer a suite of exchange-traded funds in Canada, and the move is likely to set off a price war in a nation where fees have historically been high, according to reports.

Giant financial institutions and wirehouses that spent fortunes attracting and retaining top-producing brokers and wealth managers over the past few years may be about to get socked with a big wave of departures this year and, especially, in 2012.

Talent and creativity in the fund industry are burning brighter than ever.

Former New York Banking Superintendent Richard Neiman has joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as vice chairman of the firm's global financial services regulatory practice. Neiman was also a member of the Congressional panel overseeing the implementation of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

A new report from Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. suggests that financial advisers need to educate their clients better on the importance of managing their emotions as well as their spending and investing behavior during and close to retirement just as they did-presumably-when they were saving up for their golden years.

Investors and regulators aren't the only ones wanting to know how a fund will mitigate its operational risk.

After four decades of steady growth, the Vanguard Group is now the nation's largest fund company, with $1.6 trillion under management. Its three core strengths: a solid reputation for putting investors first, its emphasis on giving broad exposure to the stock market through index funds and its low fees.

If this article were written in 2001, its advice would center on how to effectively pull data out of an annual or quarterly report and make best use of it.

CHICAGO -- Just last month BlackRock’s Bob Doll told a room full of almost 2,000 advisers at the IMCA Annual Conference in Las Vegas that he believes the U.S. will continue to outperform developing markets and outperform Europe and Japan. “Investors should be overweight the U.S.” he said.

The traditional advice and guidance model whereby investors pay fees for their investment selections and receive advice for free isn’t resonating among older investors, according to a study by Hearts & Wallets. These older investors would prefer to pay for personalized advice from a trusted, reliable source.

The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to from -47.1 to -45.9 in the week ended June 5, the third straight week it has risen and its best reading since the end of April.

CHICAGO -- Seeking to make it easier for financial planners and investors to analyze the vast mutual fund universe, Morningstar will soon launch forward-looking, analyst-driven fund ratings.