Fund performance

In a survey of 1,445 finance executives online, Deloitte found that 58.4% expect the recession could last until 2011. Yet two-thirds are not in support of any additional bailouts beyond what has been done to prop up the finance and automotive industries.

State Street Global Markets’ Global Investor Confidence Index rose from 48.2 to 60.3 in January.

Banks may have seen the worst of the financial crisis, but the economy will slog through more difficult times. That was the assessment that Pimco Manager Bill Gross gave to Reuters.

Reflecting current financial turmoil, most investors are more attuned to whether a company is viable than to its performance, according to the 2009 Investor Brandscape report from Cogent Research.

The events that occurred in the financial services industry over the past year were once thought inconceivable. At this point, regulators are chomping at the bit to reverse how Wall Street does business, and investors are downright spooked. The editors of SourceMedia's business publications offer their views on how these dramatic shifts on Wall Street and in corporate America will impact businesses and investors this year.

NEW YORK - The whole world will be in a recession throughout 2009, economists say, but it will be the U.S. and its strong dollar that lead the world to recovery sometime in 2010.

Millionaires and affluent investors suffered steep losses in 2008, and most, particularly Baby Boomers, are rolling their remaining assets into cash and stable-value investments for the foreseeable future.

Institutions continued to seek safety in money market mutual funds in the latest week, and total assets of the funds grew by $27.13 billion to reach $3.922 trillion for the week ending Jan. 13, according to the Investment Company Institute.

A small, but growing number of 401(k) investors, burned by the steep negative returns in 2008, are moving assets into such capital preservation funds as stable-value and money market funds, Mercer Consulting reported.

The days when millionaire investors scrambled to get into a hot hedge fund are over, at least for now, Reuters reports. Skittish about the steep losses hedge funds experienced in 2008, investors are hesitant to put new money in hedge funds.

Reflecting the turmoil in the financial services industry, most investors are more attuned to whether a company is viable than whether its offerings have strong performance, according to the 2009 Investor Brandscape report from Cogent Research.

The tools that have worked so well for hedge funds in recent years—shorting and sophisticated trading models—worked beautifully up until last year, when hedge funds had their worst year on record.

Deciding where wealth management clients should put their money this year is a daunting business, but investment executives at some banking companies seem to wholeheartedly agree on where it should not go: into Treasury bills.

The average U.S. stock fund plummeted 37.9% in 2008, slightly worse than the Dow Jones Industrial Average's 33.8% loss. It was the Dow's worst year since 1931, when it declined by more than 50%. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 37%, its worst performance since 1937.

Variable annuity sales sank in 2008 as the stock market's swoon scared investors off.

NEW YORK - Millions of aging Baby Boomers heeded the reassuring words of their financial advisers and remained heavily invested in equities throughout 2008, only to watch in shocked disbelief as 40% of their life savings disappeared.

Risk management will take on an increasingly important role this year as financial firms struggle to survive the fallout from last year's market mess.

Assets held by American millionaires have declined 30% during the economic crisis, according to a November survey by Spectrem Group.

Hedge funds lost an average of 18.4% in 2008, according to early projections by the Hennessee Group. However, given that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 37% in 2008, hedge funds “significantly outperformed equity benchmarks on a relative basis,” said Hennessee Managing Principal Lee Hennessee.

The Investment Company Institute, along with the UK's Investment Management Association and Australia's Investment and Financial Services Association, has released a combined statement in support of prudent regulatory oversight of short selling.