Special Program Root Tag

ProShares has launched the ProShares UltraShort TIPS exchange-traded fund, which seeks to deliver -2x the daily return of the Barclays U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities Index.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management has added alternative investment specialist Altegris Advisors to its investment platform.

MassMutual’s retirement services division is launching an interactive seminar series for participants on Feb. 23 called RetireSmart. The first session, on “Understanding What’s Driving the Economy,” will be presented by the firm’s Chief Economist Jerry Webman.

Standard & Poor’s has launched a new balanced series of indexes that combine equities and fixed income and that range from conservative to growth.

With regulatory reform bringing a wave of changes to defined contribution plans, advisers need to be even more conversant in the ins and outs of legislative requirements and other complexities. Which is why BlackRock is beefing up its commitment to advisors who work with these retirement plans.

Seventy percent of investors believe the S&P 500 will increase by the end of the year, compared with only 33% who were bullish on the market in August, a survey by MoneyShow.com found.

UMB Fund Services won a record number of clients, 35, in 2010, the company reported Thursday.

Fidelity’s National Financial clearing and custody subsidiary has upgraded its Streetscape workstation and accompanying consumer portal myStreetscape to make them more user friendly, easier to navigate and robust.

Hours after the stock exchanges in London, Toronto, Montreal and Milan said they would merge, the Deutsche Börse AG and NYSE Euronext Wednesday confirmed are trying to marry.

The London Stock Exchange Group and TMX Group of Toronto said Wednesday they would combine operations in “an all-share merger of equals.’’

Retail investors in municipals are shaken, but still standing, after a relentless barrage of negative media hype surrounding forecasts for massive municipal bankruptcies and defaults later this year.

Consumer Reports said that its Consumer Reports Trouble Tracker Index rose for the third straight month in a row, to 58.7. The index was 54.2 last month and 53.4 in February 2010.

Forward Funds has launched the Forward Commodity Long/Short Strategy Fund, which aims to profit from both up and down movements of commodity prices.

Long-term funds netted $4.01 billion in inflows in the week ended Feb. 2, the Investment Company Institute said.

An innovative do-it-yourself investment platform is looking to broaden its business by providing high-net-worth-style service to investors who have as little as $50,000.

For those advisers who haven’t handled an iPad yet to conduct business, or have not been persuaded to work with annuities, The Hartford has its sight on you.The Simsbury, Conn.-based insurance company is piloting iPads for its annuity sales force. A dozen field wholesalers have fanned out across their territories since late January, carrying much of the product’s marketing materials with them on the tablet, said Timothy Benedict, a spokesman for The Hartford.

361° Capital has launched the 361° Absolute Alpha Fund, its first mutual fund.

Turner Funds on Monday debuted three new long/short mutual funds, the Turner Market Neutral, Turner Medical Sciences and Turner Titan funds.

Nearly two-thirds, 62%, of investors have changed their approach to investing following the recession, TD Ameritrade found in a survey. The most common changes were moving into fixed income, cited by 28%, and into mutual funds and managed accounts, cited by 23%.

The ability to make choices is the pillar of a free market economy. But when it comes to the Internal Revenue Services' new tax reporting requirements, choices will mean plenty of additional operational and technological headaches for mutual fund companies over the next year.