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Eighty-three percent of the 60 institutional managers that Northern Trust surveyed expect corporate earnings to increase in the third quarter, and 84% expect the world economy to improve.

Grail Advisors, an exchange-traded fund provider based in San Francisco, has a new actively managed fixed-income ETF, the third it unveiled in a week.

The pace at which the Internet continues to affect communications is nothing short of dramatic. Nearly every type of information is now instantaneously accessible, downloadable and hyperlinked. As we adapt to absorbing ever greater volumes of information, and to the rapid rate at which it comes at us, our preferences as consumers of information are changing.

Edward Bernard to Chair ICI's Board of Governors

Workers who had already been investing in their 401(k) for at least five years through 2008 saw their balances drop an average of 24% last year, compared with the S&P 500's sharp 37% decline, the Investment Company Institute and the Employee Benefit Research Institute said.

Crisis Has Not Prompted Mutual Funds, Other Institutional Investors to Change Portfolios

BOSTON - As tax experts at mutual fund companies hurry to prepare their fund accounting systems before newly mandated changes to federal cost-basis reporting rules take effect, they are finding they could use a little help and guidance from the government.

In 2007, Philip Moses, a Raymond James adviser at First Federal Bank of Florida in Lake City, had a local physician as a client who wanted to diversify his $1.5 million portfolio.

As exchange-traded funds continue to grow in scope and popularity, investment experts warn that some products, such as leveraged and inverse ETFs, may be too dangerous for all but the most experienced hands.

Despite the steep losses that hedge funds suffered in 2008 despite their supposed absolute returns, many wealthy investors continue to invest in them, but with strings attached, executives said at the Reuters Global Wealth Management Summit in Boston this week.

Confidence among millionaires and affluent investors rose in September, according to Spectrem Group.

Money market funds saw $16.72 billion in inflows in the latest week, bringing total assets to $3.446 trillion, the Investment Company Institute said.

While most funds strictly adhere to their investment mandates, more are permitting their managers to move into cash and bonds as a defensive play. And the strategy proved to be extremely wise in last year’s steep declines.

Hedge funds rose 3.2% in September, slightly behind the S&P 500’s 3.6% gain but beating the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 2.3% gain, Hennessee Group said. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq advanced 5.6%.

A new report from Morningstar slams actively managed funds not only on performance but also on risk and style. The research firm found that only about 50% of funds have outperformed their benchmark indexes over the past three, five and 10 years and only 37% did so on a risk-, size- and style-adjusted basis.

Long-term mutual funds netted $4.94 billion in the week ended Sept. 30, marking the 29th straight week of inflows now nearing $305 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.

Putnam Investments has promoted two executives within its global distribution team, naming Joseph T. Phoenix and Catherine A. Saunders head of registered investment advisor business. Both have been with the company for more than 20 years. The two will continue to report to William T. Connolly, head of global distribution.

Just as many investors overreacted to the market on the way down, they need to keep a level head and not load up on too much stock in the current market rally, Vanguard is reminding investors in an online message from Chief Investment Officer Gus Sauter.

The mutual fund advertising rule that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority imposed in April 2007 that requires ads to contain fee information if they are also going to tout performance appears to be for naught.

Mutual funds and other institutional investor shave remained fundamentally committed to the same investment policies they were adopting prior to the credit crisis, The Conference Board said in its annual Institutional Investment Report.