Fund performance

Visium Asset Management announced the launch of the Visium Event Driven Fund (VIDVX). This is the first mutual fund offering for the alternative asset management firm, which was founded in 2005.

Bank of America has launched a campaign around socially responsible investing that is designed to enhance products and services available to a growing segment of clients concerned with value-based investing.

LPL wants its advisors to know that it has heard their complaints and is doing something about them.

Alternatives juggernaut Blackstone joined the likes of other fellow private investment firms The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) last month as the asset management practice continues its revolutionary switch in business focus out of institutional coffers and into the retail investment space.

Merrill Lynch & Co. may be dead, but long live Merrill Lynch. While Bank of America has announced plans to dissolve Merrill Lynch & Co. as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, but the roughly 14,000 advisors operating in its brokerage division shouldn't see a name change.

These are stressful times for the mutual fund industry. An obvious statement, but one authored by a colleague ten years ago. Even more interesting is that the trends cited then are the same concerns that we hear from clients today. So what has changed?

Will LPL Financial be getting into the banking business? While the nation's largest independent broker-dealer says it has no “imminent” plans to own a bank, it now can if it wants to -- thanks to the announcement of a stock distribution by two of the firm’s original private-equity investors.

In order to tap into fresh sources of capital, non-U.S. fund managers are looking to the U.S. to distribute investment strategies. This raises many issues: choosing the right vehicles for the job, regulatory considerations, and more.

Fewer RIAs this year are in the mood to sell thanks to stable growth in the markets.

The estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows for July 2013 were released by Morningstar today. Investors added $15.9 billion to long-term mutual funds in July, driven by inflows of $7.9 billion into international-equity funds.

As risk has dialed up in today's uncertain climate, there has been a growing trend of mutual funds embracing the flexibility and creativity of various options strategies to dampen volatility and garner better returns.

What summer doldrums? Focus Financial Partners, one of the country’s largest RIA aggregators, has made its second major deal in two weeks and fifth of the year, boosting its total assets to over $60 billion spread over 27 firms.

Findings from the second quarter 2013 John Hancock Investor Sentiment Survey—a quarterly poll of affluent investors—show a surpriisng lack of knowledge.

Alternatives juggernaut Blackstone joined the likes of other fellow private investment firms The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) last month as the asset management practice continues its revolutionary switch in business focus out of institutional coffers and into the retail investment space.

ICI President and CEO Paul Schott Stevens issued a congratulary statement after the U.S. Senate confirmed Kara M. Stein and Michael S. Piwowar as Commissioners at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In order to tap into fresh sources of capital, non-U.S. fund managers are looking to the U.S. to distribute investment strategies. This raises many issues: choosing the right vehicles for the job, regulatory considerations, and more.

F-Squared Investments is aiming to start a revolution in the retirement market with its strategies that tame the bear while still riding the bull.

The search for yield has been a persistent and vexing challenge for anyone charged with managing money. But what are the options? How far out the curve do you have to go to find suitable opportunities? And how do you balance your yield appetite with potential credit and duration risk?

Alternatives juggernaut Blackstone joined the likes of other fellow private investment firms The Carlyle Group and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) last month as the asset management practice continues its revolutionary switch in business focus out of institutional coffers and into the retail investment space.

Individual investors, advisors, and institutions continued to show interest in large-cap equity strategies in the first half of 2013, according to a list of the most-researched investments in Morningstar's platforms. The mid-year snapshot also finds individual investors seeking dividends, financial advisors exploring allocation funds and income investments, and institutions searching for opportunities internationally.