Investments

There’s a lot of investor and advisor interest in alternative investments as a means to hedge against market volatility and to diversify a portfolio (all while boosting returns). Steve Hammers, chief investment officer and portfolio manager of the Compass EMP Alternative Strategies Fund, spoke to Financial Planning about how to design and evaluate an alternatives strategy:

Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, the investment advisor to Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, has rolled out a fund that will invest in a wide range of alternative investments.

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. has rolled out the Westwood Short Duration High Yield Fund, which will bet on non-investment grade debt with expected maturities of three years or less.

Three big-name mutual fund shops, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, State Street Corporation and Federated Investors, are warning the SEC that eliminating the fixed $1 price of fund shares will scare away many investors who want some minimum level of value stability in their assets.

Three big-name mutual fund shops, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, State Street Corporation and Federated Investors, are warning the Securities & Exchange Commission that eliminating the fixed $1 price of fund shares will scare away many investors who want some minimum level of value stability in their assets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average trimmed 2.73 points to finish at 12,977.57 Friday while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 gave back 12.78 points and 4.46 points, respectively.

Westwood Holdings Group, Inc. has rolled out the Westwood Short Duration High Yield Fund, which will bet on non-investment grade debt with expected maturities of three years or less.

Three big-name mutual fund shops, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, State Street Corporation and Federated Investors, have a few choice words for the Securities & Exchange Commission about more money- market regulations.

A co-founder of BlackRock said Friday that money market mutual funds would survive, if their asset values would allowed to float from their a stable $1 net asset value per share.

Many investors put off making final Individual Retirement Account contributions until the last minute. Now, Fidelity Investments has an app for that.

Wells Fargo Funds Management, LLC, the investment advisor to Wells Fargo Advantage Funds, has rolled out a fund that will invest in a wide range of alternative investments.

The chief economist of The Dreyfus Corporation said Wednesday that world growth will slow down again in 2012, based on International Monetary Fund calculation methods.

Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock, wants the asset management industry and government to take the lead in propping up investors' morale in a flagging market.

Change is inevitable and, for the most part, good.

The coming year is shaping up to be a fresh start for alternative mutual fund shop Pyxis Capital.

To Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary L. Schapiro's mind, the current state of the money market fund business is "living on borrowed time."

With ears to the ground in more than 30 countries, Franklin Templeton's fund managers are ready to buck plenty of fixed income investing trends in 2012. Most notably, they plan to embrace active management of their funds, as well as global volatility.

The Principal Financial Group has entered into a definitive agreement to buy a 60 percent stake in Claritas Investments, Ltd., a Sao Paulo-based mutual fund and asset management company with more than $1.8 billion in assets under management.

The CBOE Futures Exchange reported that February 2012 was the second most-active trading month in its history with volume totaling 1,340,780 contracts.

Here’s an interactive slide show detailing the best investment ideas for this election year from seven financial advisors practicing throughout the country.