Investment products

Coming off a rough week in the stock market, industry economists look at the status of the global recovery—and the risks and opportunities that lie ahead…commentary from T. Rowe Price, Standard and Poor’s and GE Asset Management, plus this week’s report and corporate earnings calendar.

Affiliated Managers Group Inc. [AMG] announced Monday it bought a stake in a London fund manager as the Boston company continues to look to expand internationally.

The Rydex SGI AdvisorBenchmarking rose 3% to 109.68 from a month earlier. This is a 27% improvement from where the index stood a year ago.

Long-term mutual funds ended the week of Jan. 20 with net inflows of $13.18 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute. This brings the sales streak to 45 straight weeks totaling $454 billion.

With more of these products being introduced, competition will increase.

But how much do you and your clients want to juggle?

The ETF Council, a new trade organization for exchange-traded funds that will focus on both marketing and lobbying, is set to launch next month.

Investors Exhale and Look Ahead

Assets under management increased 8.5% over the quarter to $155.2 billion.

One silver lining was the firm’s wealth advisory group.

The online brokerage company wants to add longer-term retirement customers and wealthier clients to its base of day traders.

Survey: RIAs and brokers clamor for more alternative investments

Millionaires retained their neutral stance.

Analysts say BlackRock is positioned to pick up share because of the problems facing its rivals.

The American Institute of CPAs is offering a CPA-oriented guide on Roth IRA conversions now that the old $100,000 income limit for converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA no longer applies.

In 2009, mutual funds netted a total of $377 billion, with $357 billion, or 95% of that going to bond funds. Outflows from U.S. stock funds were $25.7 billion.

Putnam Investments unveiled a new website for its 401(k) plans Monday that keys investors into a monthly retirement income figure, rather than their existing balance or a retirement savings target.

The White House plans to promote “the availability of annuities and other forms of guaranteed lifetime income, which transform savings into guaranteed future income, reducing the risks that retirees will outlive their savings or that their retirees’ living standards will be eroded by investment losses or inflation.”

In the wake of the financial crisis more and more consumers are concerned about runaway executive pay practices.

Stripping Rules Coming by July