Investment products

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 101.79 points to 12170.18 Tuesday. The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index rose 150.95 points to 13242.81. Stocks were lifted after news that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would resign after a budget law is approved.

"The greatest stimulus package in the world is certainty. For the past two years we have not had certainty," Bob Reynolds, president and chief executive of Putnam Investments told the Fund Forum USA’s Global Fund Distribution Summit here Tuesday.

Nasdaq OMX Group and a unit of Canada’s TMX Group said they are developing a family of capital markets indices based on U.S. Treasury instruments that will be rebalanced daily, instead of monthly.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman Gary Gensler said Monday he recused himself from the regulator’s probe of the failure of derivatives player MF Global, because “I didn't want my participation to in any way be a distraction.''

The whipsaw of stock prices this year is not due to faulty functioning of markets, say exchange operators. Tinkering with market data or other parts of a "highly tuned engine" must be carried out carefully, as a result, said Goldman Sachs' head of U.S. equities trading.

The owners of the Standard & Poor’s Indices and the Dow Jones Indices said they will create a joint venture in index services.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell Friday, finishing the week down 247.87 points to 11983.24 and ending a five-week winning streak. Stocks slipped 61.23 points on Friday.

Altegris Futures Evolution Strategy Fund brings together two managed futures managers, Winton Capital Management and ISAM, with fixed income manager Jeffrey Gundlach.

Denver-based 361 Capital CEO Tom Florence said at the Schwab Impact conference in San Francisco that his firm has licensed 11 videos than run seven to 10 minutes each. The videos, which debuted this week, will be available exclusively on 361 Capital's website.

Putnam Investments has launched the Putnam Short Duration Income Fund, a fixed-income fund that aims to combine the capital preservation appeal of a money market fund with the higher yield of an ultra-short bond fund.

Pacific Investment Management has renewed its contract with State Street to manage its investment operations, on an outsourced basis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose Thursday, finishing up 1.76% to 12044.47. Stocks received a boost after the Greek prime minister discarded plans to hold a referendum on a bailout for the country.

BlackRock managing director paints bleak economic picture but says corporate balance sheets are still solid.

Jerome Abernathy of Rydex SGI says alternative investment strategies will be increasingly critical for advisors who want to generate yield for their clients while also protecting them against systemic financial shocks.

Eaton Vance has launched the Eaton Vance Multi-Strategy All Market Fund, a new fund that can invest in a broad spectrum of asset classes, including stocks, bonds and alternatives. The fund’s managers will employ fundamental analysis, quantitative portfolio optimization and risk management techniques.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 178.08 to 11836.04 Wednesday, reversing two days of declines. The market reacted to comments made by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke at a press conference on the Fed’s monetary policy.

Blue chips fell 297.05 points to 11657.96, the second day of losses as investors reacted negatively to economic news out of Greece. All but one of the component stocks ended down.

Vanguard this week announced plans to introduce two international bond index funds for U.S. investors. The two funds -- Vanguard Total International Bond Index Fund and Vanguard Emerging Markets Government Bond Index Fund -- are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2012 pending review of the registration statements by the SEC.

MF Global Holdings, a major player in th futures market, has filed for bankruptcy after failing to find a buyer.

Preferreds are getting popular because they generate income—but they require a lot of diligence and involve a lot of fine print