Investment products

The U.S. exchange-traded funds market is primed to double up on its current $1.5 trillion in assets to the tune of more than $3.5 trillion in assets over the next five years, according to iShares’ latest forecast.

Advisors may soon see lower fees for liquid alternative asset funds – hedge fund mutual funds – thanks to the push by hedge fund managers to market these plans more aggressively into the defined contribution space, according to panelists at last week's 25th annual Morningstar Investment Conference.

Scottrade emerged as the top-rated firm in J.D. Power & Associates 2013 U.S. Self-Directed Investor Satisfaction Study, but overall investor satisfaction with self-directed firms declined from last year.

The amount of money investors have withdrawn from municipal bond mutual funds, at $1.61 billion for the week of June 12, continues to climb and break records for the year.

Ron O’Hanley, Fidelity Investment’s president of asset management and corporate services, laid out his take on a number of economic trends through a game of red light/green light led by Morningstar’s head of global research Scott Burns.

After weeks of either net outflows or only modest inflows, tax-exempt money market funds recaptured $3.13 billion of net gains as total net assets grew to $260.97 billion in the week ended June 10, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

With the number of alternative strategies rising, how can advisors pick the winners from the losers?

Despite a challenging environment in the hunt for yield, three prominent money managers told advisors and investors that it is possible to do better than the historically low rates many have settled for.

The most important thing an advisor can do for clients is to integrate their investment portfolios with the rest of their financial needs, according to Morningstar’s director of global fund research.

During the week ended June 5, investors yanked an estimated $11.53 billion from virtually all categories of long-term funds, giving them their first weekly outflow this year.

A difficult May in the municipal bond market has put investors on the defensive.

A week after investors pulled out of low-grade bond funds at record levels, ING’s chief investment officer Christine Hurtsellers said that the selloff is “overdone.”

For the second consecutive week, equity exchange-traded funds experienced net outflows, handing back some $2.8 billion, while conventional mutual fund took in $500 million.

Payden & Rygel is looking to tap into the broker dealer channel with a new partnership.

Muni money funds continue to struggle to recoup the billions they lost this year — particulary around income tax season — and the arrival this week of $411 million is not much of a boost.

Separately managed accounts and alternative funds are poised for growth and fund firms need to be on top of their social media game to participate in the growing mutual fund space, according to a new report by Curian Capital.

Are you a wirehouse advisor with at least $93 million in assets under management? Then you are the kind of advisor asset management distributors most want to reach.

Global exchange-traded product flows reached $26.5 billion in May, the second strongest month this year, according to BlackRock’s latest ETP Landscape Monthly Snapshot.

In an environment of transparency and volatile capital markets, you would think exchange-traded fund vehicles would hold more of a percentage in the $3.6 trillion retirement plan marketplace.

“Planners only have so many hours in the day,” Accenture's Kevin Boyle said. “So, [they need to consider] which managers do they really want to spend their times learning, getting close to and spending time advising their clients about.”