Investments

North America led the rise in global confidence, jumping 7.8 points to 86.3.

The Aquila Group of Funds has appointed Craig DiRuzzo as a regional sales manager focusing on the Tax-Free Fund of Colorado, a municipal bond fund that invests in Colorado’s municipal and state projects, and Aquila’s two nationally distributed mutual funds – Aquila Three Peaks High Income Fund and Aquila Three Peaks Opportunity Growth Fund.

State Street Global Advisors today marked the twentieth anniversary of the first exchange traded fund, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) by reminiscing on the early years of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF.

Russell Indexes today launched the Russell High Efficiency Defensive Indexes, which it touts as “the first and only series of low volatility benchmarks to offer low targeted tracking error.”

T. Rowe Price Group Inc., the asset manager that has posted a profit every quarter since going public in 1986, said fourth-quarter earnings rose 23 percent as stock markets gained boosted assets and the fees they generate.

Since the start of 2007, for instance, investors of all types have pulled $607.4 billion out of funds that invest in domestic stocks, according to the Investment Company Institute. In the same time, they've added $1.2 trillion to the coffers of bond funds. Will 2013 change this trend?

Ever popular ETFs finished 2012 on a strong note.

In his more than 25 years on the municipal bond desk at Merrill Lynch and BlackRock, Peter Hayes has had front-row seats to some of the biggest changes in asset management, and in particular, how they've affected the municipal bond industry. He brings those to bear in his analysis for 2013.

Ever popular ETFs finished 2012 on a strong note.

Stock funds started the year with a bang.

Russell is looking for a new director of defined contribution.

A meeting at the $79 billion Oregon Investment Council (OIC) last Wednesday resulted in two new investments, Jeff Sinks, communications director for the Oregon State Treasury, confirmed to Investment Management Mandate Pipeline, a sister publication to Money Management Executive.

Hatteras Funds earlier this month announced that its Hatteras Managed Futures Strategies Fund (HMFIX, HMFAX) is now available on the Charles Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource Platform.

Exchange-traded products are on a roll, following up a record year of flows with a major milestone the first month of the new year.

Jonathan Baum, the chairman and CEO of Dreyfus, resigned from the firm on Monday, Jan. 21, to pursue other interests, Morningstar reports.

Cynthia Friedlander has been named director of fixed income regulation in the member regulation division of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA announced Thursday.

John M. “Jack” McCarthy, who became a widely quoted stock market bull during a 32-year career at Lord Abbett & Co., where he managed the flagship Affiliated Fund (LAFFX), has died. He was 85.

News headlines today are riddled with fines and lawsuits against some of the biggest financial brands in the world, even as regulators crack down and push major legislative overhauls into implementation, such as 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act in the U.S. and Retail Distribution Review (RDR) in the UK.

Pioneer Investments is reshuffling its fund lineup including reorganizing four domestic equity funds and liquidating another.

First, there was the Great Recession.