Investments

More than 4,000 shareholders in Baron Funds crammed into the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City last Friday to hear investment and market analysis along with songs belted out by Celine Dion, Harry Connick, Jr. and others.

Last month, the Board of Trustees of the Huntington Funds voted to close and liquidate the Huntington Macro 100 Fund, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Fidelity Investments has named Papillion, Nebraska, as the site for its new $200 million data center, which it plans to have constructed and operating by 2014.

For planners seeking clues into U.S. consumer behavior this shopping season, a new survey detects optimism for both retailers and consumers, 62% of whom said they will spend as much or more as they did last holiday season.

The $696 million Invesco Balanced-Risk Commodity Strategy Fund is closing to new investors on November 15, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The Charles Schwab Corporation has agreed to buy ThomasPartners, a dividend income-focused asset management firm with $2.3 billion in assets, for $85 million in cash and additional payments contingent on future growth in assets.

PerTrac, a provider of analytics, reporting and communications software for investment professionals, released a new report this week detailing the success of hedge funds during years in which the entire sector posted negative performance results.

Citigroup Inc., the third-biggest U.S. bank, reported a surprise profit of $468 million for the third quarter, helped by a $582 million tax benefit and bond- trading revenue that beat analysts’ estimates.

Go West (and go soon) for Dynasty Trusts. The top states for these products are South Dakota, Alaska, Nevada.

'Tis the season when the leaves change, the National Football League is kicking its season into second gear, the Yankees are once again chasing another championship, and...yes, there's another mutual fund conference to attend.

ClearBridge Advisors the largest manager of equity funds at parent company Legg Mason, apparently wants to cut the apron strings, announcing it would drop the “Legg Mason” name from all its U.S. funds over the next few months.

Market participants should be wary of threats to tax-exempt bonds, but the politically-charged atmosphere in Washington, D.C. raises doubts about the ability of Congress to pass comprehensive tax reform legislation, lobbyists and others said Friday.

FlexShares, the exchange-traded funds arm of Northern Trust Corp., launched its first actively managed ETF, the FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income Fund (RAVI), a money market ETF that will invest in global short-duration, investment-grade fixed-income products, including U.S. Treasuries.

Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, the convergence between traditional and alternative products has been widely discussed, with ramifications expected to affect the industry in a significant fashion.

NEWS SCAN

'Tis the season when the leaves change, the National Football League is kicking its season into second gear, the Yankees are once again chasing another championship, and...yes, there's another mutual fund conference to attend.

Curian, Putnam Investments and the John Hancock Funds have won top honors in the 10th Annual NOVA Awards, which honor outstanding leadership and achievement in mutual fund operations and marketing.

Mutual fund companies are increasingly taking on the mindset of hedge funds, as they seek to offer clients access to alternative investments such as commodities or real estate and strategies like absolute return investing and combinations of going long on some stocks and selling others short.

In the past three years, bond funds have been raking in the assets.

ClearBridge Advisors the largest manager of equity funds at parent company Legg Mason, apparently wants to cut the apron strings, announcing it would drop the “Legg Mason” name from all its U.S. funds over the next few months.