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Defined benefit plans delivered an average return of 10.13% between 1995 and 2007, whereas 401(k) plans rose an average of 9.06% a year, according to a report released Wednesday by consulting firm Towers Watson. While that differential is just over one percentage point, the six largest DB plans analyzed outperformed the six smallest by three percentage points in that timeframe.

Sixty-five percent of equities and 58% of options traders believe the S&P 500 Index will rise between 5% and 20% in 2010, according to a survey of 240 investors by online broker TradeKing. Many said they are more confident about the stock market now that the Obama administration has shifted its focus from healthcare reform to job creation.

The 4% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in January could portend worse things to come for the stock market and the economy, Mohamed A. El-Erian, co-chief investment officer of PIMCO, recently wrote in a Bloomberg News column.

The Department of Labor’s new rules for advice in 401(k) plans are currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget and could be released as early as the end of the month.

iShares has registered nine additional country-specific exchange-traded funds with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Many donor-advised funds from the nation’s largest mutual fund companies are directing tens of millions of dollars to aid victims of the massive earthquake in Haiti. The Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund alone has sent $10.5 million for Haiti relief.

Fidelity is offering a suite of 25 iShares exchange-traded funds to its online and wireless retail customers commission-free, and Fidelity has also reduced its online U.S. equity trade commissions to $7.95. for all of its customers.

The Labor and Treasury Departments have issued a request for information to determine whether annuities belong in 401(k)s. Specifically, the agencies want to know the benefits and the drawbacks to receiving retirement income in installments.

Affiliated Managers Group reported a fourth-quarter profit of $24.6 million, or 55 cents per share, reversing a loss of $83.7 million, or $2.12 a share, a year ago.

The actively managed exchange-traded funds sector is increasingly going mainstream, and Grail Advisors is riding right along with it.

Among financial services firms well known to investors, affluent investors have the most favorable impression of Fidelity, Vanguard and American Funds. This is according to a Phoenix Marketing International survey of 850 investors age 35 to 64 with household income and investable assets, excluding workplace retirement plans, of at least $100,000 conducted this past November.

Following the financial crisis, advisers are most likely to recommend financial services companies they perceive as ethical and trustworthy, Phoenix Marketing International research shows. Conducted this past November, the Phoenix study shows that American Funds, Vanguard, John Hancock, Franklin Templeton and Fidelity command the most favorable impression among firms well known to advisers. In terms of brand recognition, advisers cited Hancock, Prudential, Vanguard and MetLife as leaders.

Assets raised by hedge fund startups in 2009 fell 36% to $14.89 billion from $23.17 billion the previous year, marking the second year in a row that new fund assets declined significantly, according to AbsoluteReturn-Alpha.com’s AR magazine. The amount was less than half of the $31.5 billion new hedge funds raised in 2007, and is the lowest on record.

BNY Mellon has signed a definitive agreement to buy PNC’s Global Investment Servicing business for $2.31 billion in cash. The unit provides custody, fund accounting, transfer agency and outsourcing.

Based on the strong performance Putnam Investments’ funds delivered across a wide variety of asset types in 2008, the annual Lipper/Barron’s Fund Families Survey has selected Putnam as the No. 1 mutual fund family of 61 offerings.

Advisor confidence in the economy and the stock market rose in January, according to Rydex SGI AdvisorBenchmarking.

Ten struggling exchange-traded funds that have attracted less than $18 million, or 3% of WisdomTree’s $6 billion in assets under management, will be shut down on March 24.

Macquarie Group has launched the Macquarie Mexican Infrastructure Fund, with approximately $5.2 billion in initial commitments from Mexican pension funds, Macquarie and Mexico’s National Infrastructure Fund, the latter of which, as a cornerstone investor in the fund, has made an initial commitment of $1.04 billion to $3 billion.

Waddell & Reed earned $33.3 million, or 39 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, an impressive turnaround from the $730,000, or 1 cent a share, it lost in the last quarter of 2008.

After plummeting 46.63% in 2008, real estate mutual funds outpaced the S&P 500 by seven percentage points in 2009, delivering an average of 30.34%. This year, however, managers of these funds expect only modest, single-digit gains.