Investment products

Barclays projects that consumers will continue to drive U.S. economy. S&P targets high-yielding dividend funds. BlackRock forecasts slower, but steady growth in China.

There is a new dynamic today between hedge funds, investors and hedge fund administrators, according to State Street Corp.’s new Vision Report, “Hedge Funds: Rebuilding on a New Foundation.”

Kinetic Concepts (NYSE: KCI) this week announced it has agreed to go private for $68.50 a share with private investors share include Apax Partners, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board.

Lincoln Trust Company has introduced the Personalized Expense Ratio for the 401(k) plans that it administers. The ratio is designed for participants, plan sponsors and advisers to see the actual cost of their plans without having to perform calculations themselves.

Altegris Advisors has launched the Altegris Macro Strategy Fund, which it is characterizing as the “ultimate go-anywhere fund.”

Gold prices rallied in U.S. dollars and hit an all-time high in Euros -- a response to Moody’s downgrade of Portuguese government debt to junk last week -- amid concern that troubles in Italy and Greece will drive Euro down.

Morningstar has added sophisticated asset allocation and forecasting functionality to Morningstar Direct, its investment analysis platform for institutional investors.

American Beacon Advisors has launched the American Beacon Flexible Bond Fund, which seeks to deliver positive returns no matter what the market direction by investing in a broad range of fixed income instruments.

After a period of booming sales in first quarter of 2011, annuity sales through banks have fallen off significantly, according to a new report by Kehrer-LIMRA, the banking industry research unit of LIMRA.

BlackRock reviews its accuracy for the year so far. Barclays advises on building a muni porfolio. Raymond James sees reasons to buy.

Euro Pacific Asset Management has launched the EuroPac Hard Asset Fund, a new investment product designed to mitigate against inflation and the dollar devaluation.

American workers lapsed into investing inertia after the market collapsed in 2008, but standing still actually benefited many and helped their workplace retirement plan balances rebound by 31% between 2007 and 2010, Vanguard said this week.

Wells Fargo Funds Management has launched the Wells Fargo Advantage Dow Jones Target 2055 Fund, a target-date fund benchmarked against the Dow Jones Target 2055 Index and sub-advised by Global Index Advisors, State Street Global Advisors and Wells Capital Management.

JPMorgan Chase said it agreed to pay $211.2 million to settle federal and state probes into the conduct of some of its former workers on its municipal derivatives desk, prior to 2006.

REITs continue to beat the S&P 500, according to NAREIT, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. In the first half of 2011, U.S. REITs were up almost 10%, compared to 6% for the S&P 500.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management has been selected as the investment manager for New York’s $1.9 billion 529 college savings plan. After completing the extensive request for proposal process, J.P. Morgan said, negotiations will now begin on the details of the seven-year agreement.

S&P Indices this week said 444 publicly traded firms increased their dividend payouts in the second quarter, a 32.5% increase from the 335 companies that bolstered shareholders' balances in the year-ago quarter.

Porfolio Rethink has introduced seven new indexes that it says are alternatives to the 19th-century Standard & Poor’s 500 and Dow Jones Industrial average. Today, the company says, companies are global and investors are much more sophisticated.

The wind is at the back of alternative energy and it has a sunny future that investors should prepare to capitalize on. That’s the word from Anna Davydova, portfolio manager of Fidelity Select Environment and Alternative Energy.

In a major sting operation by a joint task force involving the Securities and Exchange Commission’s South Florida Regional Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami and the FBI, an alleged scheme involving several penny stock promoters and several CEOs of microchip companies has been exposed, with fraud charges filed against the principals.