Fund performance

Bruce Berkowitz isn't the kind of manager whose moves make headlines, but they've paid off remarkably well for his investors.

The euro zone doesn’t look as scary today as it did a few months ago. It’s not that austerity measures are fully developed. It’s not that the stress test convinced everyone that the banks are sound. It’s not that the bailout is filled with shock and awe.

Buoyed by the strength of the long-term municipal market over the past 18 months, mutual fund assets have climbed to record levels, and portfolio managers have had little need to make major changes to their current investment strategies.

As news "broke" Monday that BP [ BP ] CEO Tony "I want my life back" Haywood will step down in October, and news reports of the pervasive greed among the people in the Gulf Coast ... some questions are worth asking.

NEW YORK-Even as the residential housing and mortgage markets remain fragile, with housing starts and sales faltering-many money managers believe commercial real estate is headed for a worldwide boom.

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. announced that profits increased 5% to $179.4 million, or 30 center per share, as trading volume increased.

State Street Corp. followed serve Tuesday as custodial banks used the second quarter to bounce back from a year-earlier loss to post a profit.

Despite investor concerns about a global economic recovery, BlackRock's Bob Doll and Deutsche Bank's Ben Pace are optimistic.

Investors may be gloomy about an economic recovery, but senior executives remain confident in U.S. corporate growth.

Affluent investors ended the first half of the year on a sour note, their confidence slipping seven points in June, to minus-12 on Spectrem Group's Affluent Investor Confidence Index, but advisers say that falling confidence presents an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

Despite investor concerns about a global economic recovery, BlackRock's Bob Doll and Deutsche Bank's Ben Pace are optimistic.

Twelve percent more fund managers surveyed this month by Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecast that the global economy will deteriorate in the next 12 months, than said the economy would grow. Last month, the net result of the survey was that, on balance, 24% more fund managers predicted the global economy would pick up steam, than lose it.

The sovereign debt crisis coupled with persistently high unemployment rates in the United States and continued fears over the 2008 financial meltdown has rocked investor confidence, so much so that investor mood has completely turned around in the past month.

BlackRock has reduced the fee on its iShares Comex Gold Trust exchange-traded fund by more than a third, to 25 basis points. The firm apparently is tossing its hat into the ETF fee wars started by Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard.

Fear is the new name of the investing game. It's what drove investors to take $527 billion off the table in May, and it's what continues to rattle the market, with the Dow's 268-point drop on Tuesday and second 115-point decline at deadline two perfect examples.

NEW YORK-After getting burned by the financial crisis in 2008, many investors have decided to sit on the sidelines instead of jumping back into equities. But Putnam Investments said at its mid-year equity markets briefing Tuesday at the St. Regis Hotel it sees the uncertainty in the financial markets as an opportunity.

CHICAGO — Yields on floating-rate municipal prepaid gas bonds with ties to BP have spiked to nearly 9% from less than 0.5% as credit analysts continue to cut their ratings on the oil giant.

Think way back — well, a few months ago — to all the hype about how private-equity firms were poised to swoop in and buy struggling banks left and right.

See Advisor TV video here: http://www.financial-planning.com/video/morningstar-dolan-advisortv2667536-1.html

NYSE Technologies on Thursday will introduce a service that displays up-to-the-minute statistics on how fast it delivers details on orders and transactions to customers.