Special Program Root Tag

T. Rowe Price Group announced better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Friday as assets under management soared on inflows, particularly to target-date retirement portfolios.

Prudential Retirement has named Kara Segreto chief marketing officer, in charge of marketing, brand and promotional programs for the firm’s defined contribution, defined benefit, stable value, retirement income, retirement plan strategies, pension risk transfer and non-qualified benefits lines of businesses.

Vanguard on Friday launched the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF, which tracks the MSCI All Country World ex-USA Investable Market Index.

Morningstar has begun issuing research reports and ratings on closed-end funds, with the launch of reports on 30 funds. By the end of the first quarter, Morningstar will be covering 100 closed-end funds in the U.S., representing about a quarter of the universe and focused on the largest and most heavily traded funds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on January 31 will publish data showing shadow prices – or the true net asset value -- for money market funds.

State Street Global Advisors on Thursday has launched three new SPDR exchange-traded funds: the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF, the SPDR S&P Telecom ETF and the SPDR S&P Healthcare Equipment ETF.

In the week ended Jan. 19, long-term funds took in $4.01 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.

Fidelity Investments reported it helped 146 individual brokers and teams managing $12 billion in assets transition to a range of independent business models last year.

Private fund advisors with more than $1 billion in assets under supervision have a greater need for monitoring, especially after lessons learned during the recent financial crisis, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. So the commission proposed requiring all registered investment advisors that work with one or more private funds to complete a new document, the Form PF. Registered investment advisors who work with hedge and private equity funds, among others, would be required to file the new form periodically.

Companies are not following the leads of consumers.

While Americans have remain committed to saving for retirement through their 401(k)s, a significant portion of households owning financial investments, 37%, have become more conservative in their saving, asset allocation and choice of retirement age, according to a survey of 3,000 households at the end of 2010 by the Investment Company Institute.

Flows to mutual funds worldwide were $150 billion in the third quarter of 2010, bringing total assets to $23.70 trillion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday. The flows more than reversed the $91 billion in outflows the previous quarter.

As the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act approaches its one-year anniversary, the focus on the law is shifting from the issues of extending coverage and insurance reforms to the structure of the upcoming insurance exchanges, accountable care organizations and the definition of "essential benefits."

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, now a unit of Bank of America, will pay $10 million to settle charges that it misused customer order information for its own proprietary trading in securities.

John Hancock Funds announced on Tuesday its new John Hancock Alternative Asset Allocation Fund, a multi-managed fund that John Hancock will manage along with five other leading asset management firms: PIMCO, Wellington Management, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Stone Harbor, Deutsche Asset Management and First Quadrant.

Although the economic recovery is relatively slower in the U.S. than abroad, U.S. CEOs’ outlook has improved considerably, a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers finds.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased in January to 60.6, up from 53.3 in December.

Global X Funds on Tuesday launched two new emerging markets exchange-traded funds, the Global X Russell Emerging Markets Growth ETF and the Global X Russell Emerging Markets Value ETF.

Forward Management on Tuesday launched the Forward Tactical Enhanced Fund, an absolute return fund that seeks to deliver returns regardless of the market’s direction.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged an Austin energy company with bribing a broker to manipulate the price of its stock.