Investment products

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sawed off 52.35 points Monday to finish at 13,254.29 while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 lost 32.40 points and 8.84 points, respectively.

Bank advisors often say the biggest benefit of this channel is the constant stream of potential clients-but are they really leveraging that?

Advisors want more control over clients' managed accounts, and such accounts increasingly tilt towards mutual funds. Judging from recent results, though, the combination of these trends might not be good news for clients.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 14.64 points Friday to close at 13,306.64 while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 added 0.61 points and 5.80 points, respectively.

Oceans of ink have already been spilled handicapping the presidential candidates' chances, based on how the stock market is doing. Now, let's take a peek at the crystal ball to see how the stock market's sectors will do if President Obama gets another four years, or the country gives the nod to Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Can it possibly be? Technology stocks are paying the most dividends?

Tax-exempt money market funds lost $1.70 billion and total net assets declined to $268.31 billion in the week ended Sept. 3 -- the second consecutive week of significant losses, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Flows into municipal bond mutual funds remained positive. Barely. Those funds that report their flows weekly saw $260 million of inflows for the week ended Sept. 5.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average stormed up 244.52 points Thursday to close at 13,292.00 while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 surged up 66.54 points and 28.68 points, respectively.

In a nod to the competitive pricing pressure roiling the financial services industry, Advisor Group, one of the largest independent broker-dealer networks in the nation, has eliminated, or drastically reduced, the mutual fund fees it was charging to clients of its financial advisors.

The pullout from domestic stock funds continued last week, to the tune of $3.7 billion. But bond funds got another big influx.

Pimco's Gross says investors face an "age of inflation, which typically provides a headwind, not a tailwind, to securities prices -- both stocks and bonds."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved up 11.54 points Wednesday to finish at 13,047.48 while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell 5.79 points and 1.50 points, respectively.

Edward P. Owens, whose $22.4 billion Vanguard Health Care Fund has outperformed every U.S. equity mutual fund since it was created in 1984, will retire at the end of the year.

The last century ended with a dot-com boom, followed by a real estate boom with each ending in a bust. Could bonds face a similar fate?

After more than a year of battling it out in Washington, D.C., and around the country, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro called off her proposed second round of reform for money market mutual funds.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 54.90 points Tuesday to close at 13,035.94. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 shed 1.64 points to end at 1,404.94 and the Nasdaq added 8.10 points to finish at 3,075.06.

Many Wall Street experts think that the JOBS Act will fundamentally change the hedge fund industry. But will it lead to the consolidation of existing funds and the creation of others?

A run-down of the stories in this issue, beginning with the cover story, which details how to offer wealth management with a personal touch.

Political wrangling over the so-called "fiscal cliff," the potential expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts coupled with sharp reductions in federal spending, has stimulated many a conversation about the resulting financial planning implications.