Investment products

The number of exchange-traded funds has surged the past few years, bringing a unique business opportunity to Russell Indexes in Tacoma.

It's official: The 60-week-long, $600 billion-strong, steady sales streak for mutual funds is over.

After getting burned by the financial crisis in 2008, many investors have decided to sit on the sidelines instead of jumping back into equities. But Putnam Investments said at its mid-year equity markets briefing Tuesday in New York that it sees the uncertainty in the financial markets as an opportunity.

As the last ten years have demonstrated, buy-and-hold may be logically sound, but it may no longer be a viable investment strategy.

According to Cerulli, net inflows rose 1.1%, as nervousness sidelined some investors.

If your clients have been aching to invest in master limited partnerships without the usual headaches that they bring, you now have options.

During his keynote address at the Morningstar conference, Jeffrey Gundlach forecast radical policies out of Washington that would include higher taxes and warned that deflation and the debt overhang will continue to impact investor for the next five years.

Vanguard's top executive said at the Morningstar Conference that it’s not just liquidity, but trust, and perhaps an overhaul of the regulatory system through the creation of a systemic risk council, to restore investing.

RS Investments of San Francisco has entered into an agreement to adopt the portfolio management team of Oak Value Capital Management.

The mutual fund giant plans to launch equity funds and ETFs along with municipal bond and international real estate products

Iowa, an earlier user of Build America Bonds, won't draw on that program again for two upcoming sales because the savings are not worth the worries over heightened scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service, Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald said yesterday.

Spectrem Group’s latest report finds many investors are satisfied with advisory firms’ communications regarding fees and variable products.

ETF Trends launches an enhanced version.

Wealthy individuals now hold more of their assets in IRAs than employer-based plans.

Merrill Edge hopes to crowd out Fidelty and Schwab by not paying advisers brokerage fees, only for referrals.

Citi Capital Advisors, Citigroup’s alternative asset management platform, may seek $1.5 billion for private equity this year and $750 million for hedge funds, and an additional $1 billion of fundraising for hedge funds is targeted next year, this person said.

The distinction between accumulation and distribution is the key to your clients’ understanding target date funds.

While April’s sales couldn’t compete with March’s rocketing success, quarterly fees buoyed overall performance.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe is coupling with the general malaise in financial markets to make life easier for tax-free money market funds by boosting key short-term interest rates.

Invesco PowerShares plans to launch its second exchange-traded fund devoted to Build America Bonds, highlighting both the proliferation of municipal ETFs and the growing importance of taxable state and local government debt.