Fund performance

The performance benchmark for stocks in developing countries, the MSCI Emerging Market Index, has grown at almost 21% annually over the past three years.

Investment bank Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group has launched DirectMarkets, a first-of-its-kind platform that directly links stock issuers with investors, in primary offerings of securities.

Alternative assets. Alternative styles. Absolute return. Those are the three bases of John Hancock Mutual Funds newly launched effort to set itself apart as, in itself, an alternative to larger mutual fund creators, marketers and managers.

For a brief moment last year, the exchange-traded fund held in greatest value by investors had nothing to do with the Standard and Poor's 500. Or stocks of publicly traded companies of any sort.

BlackRock announced today that its iShares Exchange Traded Funds has launched five funds focused on commodity producers. The funds offer the benefit of access to companies involved in the production of commodities without the costs found in commodity ownership.

Investors displayed faith in all types of mutual funds for the week ended Wednesday, January 25, adding a total of $11.6 billion to equity, bond and hybrid funds, according to statistics released Wednesday by the Investment Company Institute.

Franklin Resources a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments ended the year with total assets under management of $670.3 billion, up $10.4 billion or 2% during the quarter.

An investment research and consulting company said it is releasing a suite of software tools for analyzing mutual funds based on the “three-factor” model of University of Chicago finance professor Eugene Fama and Dartmouth College professor Kenneth French.

Affiliated Managers Group reports that for the fourth quarter of 2011, Economic earnings per share were $1.76, compared to $2.02 for the same period of 2010, while diluted earnings per share for Q4 of 2011 were $0.77, compared to $1.18 for the same period of 2010.

The assets of the nation’s mutual funds were flat in December, gaining $12.3 billion. That worked out to a gain of one-tenth of a percent, for an industry that has $11.6 trillion in combined assets.

Hancock Holding Company announced that the Hancock Horizon Burkenroad Small Cap Fund, celebrating its tenth anniversary, has received a five-star overall rating from Morningstar.

Fidelity Investments did something last week that a decade ago most likely was not imaginable-or feasible.

T. Rowe Price Group reported its fourth quarter 2011 results, including net revenues of $671.6 million, net income of $188.4 million, and diluted earnings per common share of $.73.

Federated Investors reported earnings per EPS of $0.36 for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011 as compared to $0.45 for the same quarter last year. Net income was $36.9 million for Q4 2011 compared to $46.4 million for Q4 2010.

Janus reported fourth quarter net income of $35.7 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, compared with net income of $27.4 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, in the third quarter 2011 and net income of $65.9 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter 2010.

Invesco issued financial results for the year and three months ended Dec. 31, 2011. "Invesco’s efforts to provide strong, long-term investment performance to our clients contributed to the third year of long-term organic growth." said Martin Flanagan, president and CEO.

The Global Investment Committee of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney said in its January 2012 market commentary that it expects not just Europe, but the United States, to slip into recession.

AdvisorShares Investments announced that the AdvisorShares Accuvest Global Opportunities ETF will begin trading tomorrow, January 26. ACCU is managed by Accuvest Global Advisors, an investment adviser that manages over $300 million in global portfolio assets.

Guggenheim Investments announced a new open-end mutual fund offering: Guggenheim Municipal Income Fund. The fund is the latest addition to its recently expanded suite of fixed-income mutual funds..

Known as the Citi RAFI Bond Index Series, the series will include sovereign and corporate bond indices and use fundamental measures to weight the index components.