Investments

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.

State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporation, has announced changes to the indices and names of five financial industry SPDR ETFs.

State Street Global Advisors, the asset management business of State Street Corporation, has announced changes to the indices and names of five financial industry SPDR ETFs.

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

A Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey of global fund managers makes it abundantly clear that just about everyone is sure Greece will default on its foreign debt obligations. And while this isn’t good news, the view from top money managers is that this eventuality has already been priced into the market and most are more optimistic about the global economy than they were last month.

At the start of October, the Investment Company Institute announced it was going global.

The mere mention of variable annuities is enough to set off a heated discussion among financial advisors. Below are excerpts from our discussion boards about our coverage of a report from the Insured Retirement Institute.

Independent and insurance brokers/dealers are the strongest sales channels for variable annuities, according to a report from the Insured Retirement Institute.

Blue chips ended the week up 1.41% to 11808.79. It was the fourth week in a row that stocks finished higher.

FPA has launched the International Value Strategy portfolio, with plans to roll out a mutual fund version in the near future.