Investment products

PIMCO’S Douglas M. Hodge, managing director and COO of PIMCO, on the debate around how much investment managers should incorporate social responsibility into their investing decisions on behalf of clients.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 16.42 points to close at 13,194.10 Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 0.85 points to 3,040.73 while the S&P 500 lost 1.67 points to end at 1,394.28.

The actively managed fund will hold commodity, natural resources and REIT securities. It will diversify those with about a 10% allocation to gold, and a fixed-income piece.

Americans feel optimistic about their immediate financial future and accept responsibility for their own financial security, according to a new CFP Board survey.

Data can be volatile on a month-to-month basis, but the signs are still pointing toward growth.

CME Group said it will start offering “one-pot” margining of positions in interest-rate swaps and futures, beginning May 7.

Kip Meadows, founder and acting chairman of Nottingham Investment Administration which services more than $25 billion in assets for mutual funds and asset managers, shares his thoughts on the shrinking fund administration field and hedge funds' gravitation towards the mutual fund business.

Nearly one out of four pension plan participants invest solely in target-date funds, according to new research released from The Vanguard Group—a six-fold increase over the past five years. Further, adoption of these funds among new plan participants is even higher, with 64% of employees entering plan for the first time with a single target-date fund.

Goldman Sachs has reshuffled a number of senior positions in its equities division in response to recent executive departures.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied up 217.97 points to 13,177.68 Tuesday while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 added 56.22 points and 24.86 points, respectively.

More than half of those surveyed have investable assets of less than $25,000.

Pension fund managers should consider managing for a total outcome rather than focusing on the returns of individual strategies or asset classes to respond to the volatility and risk now plaguing their plans, according to a paper recently released by State Street Global Advisors.

Although defined contribution fund managers pay lip service to global investment opportunities, many DC plans actually have a “home bias” in their investments and are severely underweighted in their overseas exposure, according to a paper released by OppenheimerFunds, Inc.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 37.69 points to finish at 12,959.71 Monday while the Nasdaq lost 4.68 points to close at 2,983.66 while the S&P 500 inched up 0.22 points.

ETFs have seen rapid adoption by investors and advisors in recent years, but while the products themselves are known for their liquidity and transparency, what’s less understood is the tax bite some may deliver at the end of each year. With this in mind, Financial Planning spoke with Adam Patti, CEO of IndexIQ, to talk taxes and ETFs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on another 14 points to finish at 12,922.02 Friday following a better-than-expected government jobs report and word that Greece completed its debt restructuring negotiations to avoid an immediate default.

Covered bonds — dual recourse bonds that are popular in Europe but have seen little domestic issuance — may yet take hold in the U.S., according to a PIMCO report.

J.P. Morgan Worldwide Securities Services has hired Stephanie Miller as global head of the alternative investment services business. In this new role, Miller will oversee strategy and direction for the Private Equity & Real Estate Services and Hedge Fund Services at WSS.

NYSE Euronext said its trading in derivatives has plunged 21.4 percent in one year, worldwide and its trading in U.S. stocks is also down 21 percent. And its trading in NYSE listed stocks now is less than half of what it was in 2009, at the height of the credit crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied up 70.61 points to 12,907.94 Thursday on reports that Greece has all-but-resolved some of its lingering issues with private creditors to ensure the country avoids a disorderly default.