Fund performance

Investor-adviser relations are considerably improving, Fidelity Investments and National Financial found in a survey of 350 investors and 218 brokers and advisers.

Chief executives are feeling optimistic about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months for the first time since the second quarter of 2007, with CEOs of private companies with international operations being slightly more optimistic than those that are only domestic.

https://news.fidelity.com/news/article.jhtml?guid=/FidelityNewsPage/pages/fidelity-muni-bonds-taxes&topic=investing-bonds-cds

As Loomis, Sayles Vice Chairman Dan Fuss told MME last month: “When interest rates eventually rise, it will become our entire focus. I’ve prepared for this well in advance “(see “Fuss: Interest Rate Policy Will Shape Recovery,” MME 5/3/2010).

U.S. corporations have hearty cash flows. Consumers are inclined to keep spending. And European banks have the means to weather a sovereign debt default, according MFS Investment Management.

(First of two parts)

BB&T Corp.'s mutual fund family has had a dramatic gain in assets over the past year, and the bank's asset management arm is laying the groundwork for more expansion.

The combined assets of U.S. exchange-traded funds rose 64% from the same time last year, posting an increase of more than $300 billion to reach $830.86 billion for the month ending in April, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Financial advisors have lost their springtime swagger.

With the SEC money market fund rules taking effect this Friday and the Libor up sharply, fund managers are reportedly beginning to see lending to European banks as too much of a risk. The bigger worry is this pullback has the potential to lead to another credit crunch like the one that nearly crippled the capital markets in 2008.

High-net-worth individuals in developed markets are far more downbeat about global economic prospects than those in emerging markets, according to Barclays Wealth Insights Volume 11: The Changing Wealth of Nations.

After the so-called flash crash on May 6, and leading up to the $1 trillion debt bailout extended to Greece, the pros at Moss Adams knew how to react. They largely did nothing. There was no dumping of equities across the board. They did not pull up stakes and hunker down in cash positions.

Ninety percent of retail investors foresee market volatility remaining at or above its current level over the next three months, according to a survey by optionsXpress, an options and futures trading technology platform.

The average 401(k) plan balance at the end of the first quarter was up 40% from the year-earlier period, according to Fidelity highlights from its first quarter 2010 401(k) figures.

As markets continued to rise in April, assets held in exchange-traded funds increased for the third consecutive month.

In retirement, employees will need 15.7 times their final pay when factoring in inflation and postretirement medical costs, according to a study by Hewitt Associates.

A majority of online investors polled by web-based brokerage firm TradeKing have a more bullish stance on the stock market for the rest of this year.

WASHINGTON -- The $12 trillion mutual fund industry will hit record sales of 20% or greater in 2010, driven by continued demand for bonds, alternative investments and international equities, Strategic Insight projects.

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Shortly after the chief systemic risk officer of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation warned attendees at a securities operations conference Wednesday here that Greece's crisis was a systemic problem, the Dow plunged 1,000 points.

It used to be that dividend-paying stocks and stock funds were seen as fit only for orphans and widows. But following the market volatility of 2008 and the current uncertainty of the low-yielding bond market, investing in companies that pay dividends is now seen as a prudent choice.