Investment products

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumps 143.08 to 11,153.98 in a volatile trading session. Most of the gain came in the last 30 minutes of trading.

The State Street Investor Confidence Index increased slightly, from 88.1 to 89.9 in September, and The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which had declined sharply in August, remained essentially unchanged during the month at a 45.2 reading.

The term "emerging markets" was first coined nearly 30 years ago and has become outdated, as the differences between developed and emerging markets have lessened, according to a white paper from Standish Mellon Asset Management Co., the fixed income division of BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Credit Suisse has launched the Credit Suisse Global Equity Market Neutral ETN, its fifth alternative exchange-traded note.

Fidelity Charitable has created an array of seven investment options offering diversification across asset classes and risk. In addition, Fidelity Charitable has created an online tool to help investors make investment decisions.

Employees who are automatically enrolled in target-date funds when they are signed up for a 401(k) plan are very likely to stick with the target date investment strategy for the long haul, according to a study conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

Long-Term funds netted $2.13 billion in the week ended Sept. 14, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Financial advisors and their wealthier clients will have a lot more separately managed alternative accounts to consider next year, according to a new study by Aite Group, the Boston-based independent financial industry research and advisory firm.

Investment Company Institute report finds that an astonishing $178 billion has moved out of mutual funds and equity ETFs in the past 30 months. Could this dramatic exodus from stocks mark the volatile market’s bottom and great buying opportunity for advisors and investors?

UBS AG updated the loss from its unauthorized trading scandal on Sunday to $2.3 billion from its previous $2 billion estimate, and also provided more details on how the alleged fraud was perpetrated.

While both hedge funds and equities lost value in August, hedge funds outperformed equities by more than five percentage points. The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index fell 2.3% last month, but the Dow Jones Global Index of equities declined 7.69%.

Although many financial firms are still facing budgetary constraints, there appears to be at least one area in which spending could grow: buying the necessary data to value the securities institutions trade and hold.

Mortgage real-estate investment trusts have been exempt from the Investment Act of 1940, which regulates the fees that can be charged to investors and limits the amount of leverage a fund can use. But the Securities and Exchange Commission said last month that it had initiated a review of that exemption, as mortgage REITs are beginning to look more like mutual funds.

With the risk of a second downturn in the U.S. economy rising and debt problems continuing to plague Europe, many investors are shunning the equities market altogether. Meanwhile, the rush to safety in fixed-income investments has driven yields down to “incredibly low” levels, according to analysts.

Instinet said it handled 43 percent more volume in the trading of stocks in the United States in August, compared to July.

Bank-affiliated brokerages have been big revenue earners for banks, especially since the financial crisis struck in 2008, but a new Aite Group study found that banks could and should be doing much more to boost revenues from cross-selling wealth management products to retail bank customers.

Recent market calamities will continue to put a damper on asset growth and margins, as investors are likely to continue to embrace more conservative, lower-fee investment choices, Kasina predicts.

State Street Corp. has launched a derivatives clearing service, complete with a swaps clearing platform. With this launch, State Street now offers a complete, end-to-end derivatives solution, complete with servicing, custody, accounting, collateral management, valuation, risk controls and analytics.

As registered investment advisors and fee-based advisers are challenged by increasing market volatility and declines, they are turning to alternative investment classes and tactical allocation to protect their clients’ portfolios. This was the major finding of a survey of 500 professionals by Jefferson National.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority on Wednesday said that it fined five brokerages close to $1 million for gouging clients in "postage and handling" fees.