Special Program Root Tag

The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence rose to 67 in the first quarter, up from 62 in the fourth quarter—showing a measurable amount of faith in the economy since a reading above 50 indicates a positive outlook.

Sub-advised fund assets topped $1.7 trillion in 2010, an all-time high, Financial Research Corp. said.

State Street Global Advisors has launched a new exchange-traded fund based on a corporate bond index weighted according to three quantitative measures: return on assets, interest coverage and current ratio.

Companies paid out $19 billion in dividends in the first quarter of 2011, Standard & Poor’s said. And the number of companies increasing dividends rose 27.8% to 510, up from 399 in the first quarter of 2010.

Brokers and financial advisers looking to make more money and have more control over the type of clients they serve and the investments they recommend continued to flood the independent channel at a swift pace in 2010, according to a new Broker and Advisor Sentiment Index survey conducted on behalf of Fidelity Investments.

Long-term mutual funds took in $5.86 billion in the week ended March 30, the Investment Company Institute said.

ProShares has launched two inverse Treasury exchange-traded funds, the ProShares UltraShort 3-7 Year Treasury ETF and the ProShares Short 7-10 Year Treasury ETF.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors Germany Small-Cap ETF, which the firm says is the first exchange-traded fund dedicated solely to Germany. Van Eck also notes that Germany is Europe’s largest and the world’s fourth-largest economy. Germany’s GDP grew 3.6% in 2010.

Dreyfus has launched the Dreyfus Global Dynamic Bond Fund, a dynamically managed fund that seeks both capital appreciation and income by investing in bonds, currencies, derivatives and other instruments that provide exposure to these asset classes. The fund has no investment constraints and is not managed to a benchmark index. Rather, it seeks to deliver positive returns regardless of market moves.

AllianceBernstein, having expanded the diversification of its target-date funds earlier this year to mitigate the effects of inflation, has just issued a white paper discussing the importance of grappling with inflation risk.

Despite the warnings from financial planners, relatives and the media, nearly two-thirds of Baby Boomers surveyed said Social Security will be either an "extremely" or "very" important source of income when they retire.

The nation’s stock exchanges and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Wednesday filed a proposal with the SEC to establish a new “limit up-limit down” mechanism that would limit swings in stock prices, during periods of volatility.

A New York judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit against State Street as the sponsor of a mutual fund, saying that even though the mutual fund misrepresented its risks, investors were not harmed. That's because the fund correctly calculated its net asset value.

Financial advisers have known for some time that Americans have lost confidence in their ability to afford a comfortable retirement, but for confidence to plunge just as economic indicators were perking up?

Momentum Partners and FUSE Research have formed a partnership to offer advisory services to their clients.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index rose in March, its sixth straight monthly gain. Now at 100.9, it is up from 100.3 in February and has gained 8% from a year ago.

Moody’s Investors Service has lowered its outlook on Fidelity Investments from “stable” to “negative.”

Fidelity Investments has increased the size and capabilities of its London fixed income office, enhancing its ability to service institutional clients through Pyramis Global Advisors as well as Fidelity’s mutual fund clients in the U.S.

A majority of Americans find retirement planning confusing and want additional help, a study by the ING Retirement Research Institute conducted by the Boston Consulting Group found.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched the Goldman Sachs High Yield Floating Rate Fund. It invests in below investment-grade, floating-rate loans and other variable-rate securities issued by U.S. and foreign companies. The fund’s investment objective is to generate a high level of current income.