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Across all income groups, retirement income from employer-sponsored retirement plans is more prevalent among retirees today than in 1975, when sweeping new retirement plan regulations were enacted, most notably the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, according to a report from the Investment Company Institute.

Mark Notkin, portfolio manager of the $12.8 billion Fidelity Capital & Income Fund, the best-performing high-yield fund in the past five years, says the rally in junk bonds is over. His fund has delivered an average of 9.9% a year and is up 14% this year.

Spending on telecommunication services by financial firms and other companies will increase 4.7% this year, said Robert Mason, research director for enterprise network services at Gartner.

Imagine this: An entire generation of investors has accumulated a significant amount of investable cash, but was too apprehensive of the stock market, of advisors, and of the potential costs, to know how to invest the money.That is the scenario that today’s financial advisors are likely facing with Generation X and Generation Y investors, according to MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based money management firm, that released a study on 613 retail investors with $100,000 in household investable assets. Investors under age 46, or those considered Generation X, displayed a much more conservative approach than anticipated, the company said in a study released last Thursday.

Erik Weisman, investment officer and portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management, had one question for journalists gathered at the firm’s 21st annual investment outlook: “Where’s the V?”

The mutual fund industry has weighed in through its comment letters on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plan to rename 12b-1 fees as “marketing and service fees” and capping them at 25 basis points.

The Department of Labor is cracking down on employers who fail to deposit workers’ retirement or health plan contributions but using the money for their own purposes instead.

StreamBase said it added a feed of investment information from Morningstar into its system for analyzing complex market conditions in real time.

Spending on technology in capital markets will pick up again in 2011, according to a report from a United Kingdom research firm. And "revolutionary change" will drive spending on technology to clear swaps in the United States, according to a New York research firm.

Use of the advice service that Bank of America Merrill Lynch Retirement & Benefit Plan Services offers 401(k) plan sponsors for free increased 23% year-to-date since September 2009.

Modest growth is predicted for 2011 approaches, with equities showing promise and emerging markets looking particularly attractive for investors, according ING’s head of asset allocation.

If there’s still cash on the sidelines, it doesn’t belong to millionaires, according to a U.S. Bank’s Millionaire Investor Insights Annual Survey.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will vote Friday on new registration rules for hedge funds and private equity funds.

While concerns about not being able to pay for healthcare in retirement have abated somewhat to 23% of Americans, down from 30% in 2006, more people, 19%, are worried about having to work longer to supplement retirement savings, up from 12% in 2006, according to a survey of 1,008 people conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for Edward Jones.

Retirement is top of mind for a majority of pre-retiree Baby Boomers between the age of 50 and 60, Charles Schwab found in a recent survey.

Thirty-nine percent of financial advisers view American Funds as the leading provider of domestic large-cap mutual funds and 31% perceive the company as the dominant provider of value funds, but for other asset classes, there is no clear leader, Cogent Research found in a survey of 1,400 advisers.

The Hedge Fund Association said it is adamantly opposed to the establishment of a self-regulatory organization for hedge funds, which the Government Accountability Office is currently investigating under the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Build America Bonds have entered a world of their own.

The initial reactions among financial services companies to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act have been trepidation and fear.

Morningstar has named Peng Chen, president of its Ibbotson Associates unit, president of its newly formed global investment management division. In this role, Chen will be responsible for the company's investment consulting, retirement advice and investment management operations in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, including Morningstar Associates, Ibbotson Associates, Morningstar Investment Services, Old Broad Street Research and Seeds Finance.