Investments

Advisors have increased their recommendations of variable annuities since 2008, regardless of whether they were annuity supporters or skeptics.

Advisors have increased their recommendations of variable annuities since 2008, regardless of whether they were annuity supporters or skeptics.

Real estate may be cyclical, but having exposure to real estate — especially commercial real estate — in a portfolio as an alternative source of income can be beneficial. What’s the best way to evaluate whether it makes sense for a client?

Oaks, Pa.-based SEI, a provider of investment processing, fund processing, and investment management business outsourcing services, has appointed Stephen Beinhacker as Global Head of Equities for SEI's Investment Management Unit.

Stewart Capital Advisors, LLC, the investment advisor for Stewart Capital Mutual Funds, said that it has made the Stewart Capital Mid Cap Fund available as a no-load mutual fund effective April 1.

Investment advisor Matthew Tuttle spends a lot of time moving the money of newly-acquired clients out of mutual funds and into exchanged-traded instruments.

BlackRock Investments Canada Inc., an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. today said that it will liquidate the Claymore Inverse 10 Yr Government Bond ETF and distribute to shareholders the proceeds from the liquidation of the assets by June 22.

New issuance of long-term municipal bonds continued to rebound in March from last year’s relatively anemic figures, surging 82.5%.

Lazard Asset Management LLC has launched the Lazard Global Fixed Income Portfolio targeting both institutional and individual investors.

The Hartford is relocating the headquarters of its mutual funds business to Radnor, Pa., in a complex where Wellington also has an office. It also plans to hire as many as 50 new sales people to this office.

Discount brokerage Charles Schwab Corp is reviewing whether to add a warning when a customer is about to trade certain exchange-traded products, in one of the strongest warnings yet for retail investors about these esoteric securities.

Expanding its relationship with Wellington Management, The Hartford is relocating the headquarters of its mutual funds business to Radnor, Pennsylvania, in a complex where Wellington also has an office. It also plans to hire as many as 50 new sales people to this office, adding to the already existing 100 person force nationwide, to support sales of its funds in the advisor-sold and defined contribution investment only (DCIO) channels. .

Despite wildly different 10-year returns, international stock funds all have similar impact in a 12-asset portfolio.

One reader took exception to a line in the article, "The Rich Rush To REITs," which appeared in the March 2012 issue of On Wall Street. The reader writes:

As it turns out, losing to the S&P 500 last year wasn't quite as shameful as we thought.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up another 66.22 points to close at 13,212.04 Friday while the S&P 500 added 5.19 points to finish at 1,208.47.

Tradewinds Global Investors, a subsidiary of Nuveen Investments, is throwing in the towel on its Global All-Cap Plus Fund.

Henderson Global Investors Inc. has launched an all asset fund aiming at long-term growth of capital with lower volatility through flexible allocation across a wide range of asset classes around the world.

Peter Dorsey has been named the new managing director of institutional sales for TD Ameritrade Institutional, a division of TD Ameritrade, Inc.

Mutual funds come in every shape, size and color imaginable. How else are newcomers and smaller fund firms supposed to contend against 8,500 of their peers, already extant?