Investments

Former Wasatch Portfolio Managers Robert Gardiner and Blake Walker, who formed Grandeur Peak Global Advisors, have launched their first two mutual funds: the Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund and the Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund.

Tax-exempt yields soared as demand for safe-haven assets fell on positive news coming from Europe.

Blue Chips jumped 339.51 points to end at 12208.55, boosted by economic news from Europe and the U.S. All 30 component stocks ended higher.

The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index fell for a second straight month, finishing down 3.2% in September, but beating the Dow Jones Global Index’s 9.88% decline.

In light of the continued market volatility, Russell Indexes is expanding its Defensive and Dynamic Indexes to cover all 10,000 stocks that it tracks around the world.

Former Wasatch Portfolio Managers Robert Gardiner and Blake Walker, who formed Grandeur Peak Global Advisors, have launched their first two mutual funds: the Grandeur Peak Global Opportunities Fund and the Grandeur Peak International Opportunities Fund.

In light of the continued market volatility, Russell Indexes is expanding its Defensive and Dynamic Indexes to cover all 10,000 stocks that it tracks around the world.

TD Ameritrade Institutional announced a new options trading, education and support package for advisors Thursday.

Vanguard has filed with the SEC to offer the Vanguard Target 2060 Retirement Fund for those currently 18 to 20 years old, and early next year will merge the Vanguard Target Retirement 2005 Fund and the Vanguard Target Retirement Income Fund, as their allocations have become nearly identical.

Investors contributed $748 million to Fidelity Charitable, the largest donor-advised fund in the U.S., in the first nine months of 2011, a 23% increase from the first three quarters of 2010. Thus, the fund is on course to receive the largest amount of contributions in its 20-year history, Fidelity said.

Investors pulled $3.93 billion from long-term mutual funds in the week ended Oct. 19, the Investment Company Institute said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day higher, up 162.42 points, or 1.39%, reverses most of the previous day’s losses. The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index gained 144.61 points, or 1.14%.

Mutual fund managers prided themselves on sticking to their investment mandates early on in the financial crisis of 2008. This, even as the average U.S. stock fund fell nearly 30% in value. They counseled investors to do the same. Three years later, there is a new direction for funds: the flexibility to go anywhere, to pay closer attention to macroeconomic and market trends, and to even hunker down in cash.

Running its quantitative screens for its annual rebalancing, the Hennessy Focus 30 Fund turned up two sectors that at first puzzled Neil Hennessy, chairman and chief investment officer of Hennessy Funds: energy and utilities.

Blue chips dropped 207 points Tuesday to 11706.62, ending a three-day winning streak, amid continued concern over Europe’s debt crisis. The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index was down 2.11%.

BNY Mellon Asset Servicing will allow authorized participants in exchange-traded fund transactions to place orders one day ahead of the actual trade date.

NEW YORK—Running its quantitative screens for its annual rebalancing, the Hennessy Focus 30 Fund turned up two sectors that at first puzzled Neil Hennessy, chairman and chief investment officer of Hennessy Funds. Energy. And utilities.

While many investors and wealth managers continue to operate under the assumption that, sooner or later, order will be restored and things will go back to the way they were before the 2008 financial meltdown, some pundits are warning that's not going to happen and everyone better adapt to the new rules of the investment game.

Although the State Street Investor Confidence Index is still below 100, indicating institutional investors’ appetite for equities and other risky assets is neutral, the index jumped significantly by 6.7 points to a reading of 96.7 in October—underscoring marked and continued improvement in institutional investors’ outlook.

Having made changes to the fund’s investment capacity, the $6.6 billion Eaton Vance Macro Absolute Return Fund is reopened to additional investments.