Investment products

Affluent retail investors are pulling assets away from traditional mutual funds in favor of exchange-traded funds and other alternatives, resulting in significant market consolidation, according to new findings by Cogent Research.

Bond behemoth PIMCO is making a push into the equities space with the hire of Geoffrey Johnson as an executive vice president and global equity portfolio manager. He will begin with the firm in April and will be based in the Newport Beach, Calif. office.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 27 points to close at 12,938.67 as persistent EU concerns and a disappointing revision of the December home sales data weighed heavily on investors’ minds.

RiverNorth Capital Management said its RiverNorth/DoubleLine Strategic Income Fund will be closed to new investors on March 30, but current investors and advisors can still purchase shares after that date.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 15.82 points to close at 12.965.69 Tuesday after briefly rallying past the 13,000-point level in early trading. The Nasdaq lost 3.21 points to finish at 2,948.57 while the S&P 500 inched up 0.98 points to end at 1,362.21.

A new study by is looking to answer the age-old question: Do active investment managers (e.g., mutual funds and hedge funds) add value above and beyond simply investing in an index?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added another 45.79 points Friday to close at 12,949.87, pushing the index up 6% so far for the year.

After two weeks of decline, total money market mutual fund assets increased by $2.86 billion to $2.659 trillion in the week ended Wednesday, Feb. 15, according to the Investment Company Institute.

The bulls firmly regained control Thursday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 123.13 points to 12,904.08 after a barrage of positive economic reports hit the wire as well as news that eurozone central banks have agreed to exchange their existing Greek bonds for new securities.

Here’s an interactive slide show detailing 10 bold global investment predictions for the remainder of 2012 from Neuberger Berman, an independent money management firm overseeing more than $193 billion in assets invested in equities, fixed income and alternative strategies for individuals and institutional clients.

What terms will you need to get familiar with as clearing of what can be considered exchange-traded swaps starts up? Here’s one answer, in a gallery of key acronyms.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97.33 points to finish at 12,780.95 Wednesday while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 lopped off 16 points and 7.27 points, respectively.

The Great Recession ended 32 months ago. But fear about the sturdiness of its recovery persists.

The U.S. equities market has been losing the order flow battle for three straight years and will continue to fall until 4th quarter 2012, a Tabb Group Research Report says.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average spent most of the day in the red Tuesday before fighting back for a 4.24-point gain, closing at 12,878.28.

The sovereign debt and banking crises are not over. But the stiffest headwind facing Western economies? Trade deficits, says a Citigroup investment research director.

The next black swan in the financial industry is likely to be rising interest rates. And there could be a “good” black swan event: a rally over the next 10 years in stocks, said speakers at NICSA’s 30th Annual Conference and Expo.

U.S. stocks moved higher Monday after Greek lawmakers approved the financial reforms needed to secure its latest bailout package from the IMF and the EU, a development that Wall Street has been anticipating for weeks.

Advisors who make investment decisions on behalf of their clients in rep-driven managed accounts are very likely to see their business grow, according to projections by Cerulli Associates.

Following ProShare Advisors' roll out last month of the first 30-year breakeven inflation exchange-traded funds, the company now offers a 10-year version.