Investments

Investing in the railroad industry has traditionally been seen as a way to play economic recoveries. But a research note from Standard & Poor’s suggests railroads may be a good bet even in this uncertain economy.

In an effort to expand its annuity business, The Hartford is expanding into the structured settlement annuity market, providing tax-free payouts to people who receive settlements related to a workers’ compensation or personal injury claim.

Transamerica is planning to roll out the Transamerica Global Tactical Fund in October. Sub-advised by Aegon Investment Management, the fund will invest in exchange-traded funds that focus on high-yield bonds and non-U.S. debt, including emerging markets.

SunGard has added credit risk analysis to its SunGard Global Network Short-Term Cash Management portal, relying on data from Standard & Poors, Sector Treasury and Crane Data.

As if the stock market's wild vacillations in the past few weeks weren't evidence enough that few have a firm hold on the U.S. economy's near- and long-term outlook, Fannie Mae this week issued an analysis that says the likelihood of a dreaded double-dip recession is now a 50/50 proposition.

The equities analysts at Swiss-based UBS are taking an increasingly dim view of the U.S. and global economies and are suggesting that investors should be reducing their equity exposure from “overweight” to what they call a “neutral tactical stance” of stocks, bonds and cash.

Standard & Poor’s may be negative on equities markets these days, but its analysts are pretty high on utilities stocks and ETFs.

As if the stock market's wild vacillations in the past few weeks weren't evidence enough that few have a firm hold on the U.S. economy's near- and long-term outlook, Fannie Mae this week issued an analysis that says the likelihood of a dreaded double-dip recession is now a 50/50 proposition.

QFS Asset Management, a hedge fund that provides clients with currency, global macro, fixed income and volatility management strategies, this week named Jim Conklin as its new director of research.

Transamerica is planning to roll out the Transamerica Global Tactical Fund in October.

The ongoing sovereign debt crisis in Europe, debt concerns in the U.S. following its credit downgrade, weak GDP growth in the U.S. and Japan still reeling from the March earthquake have put the global economy in a fragile state, according to Business Monitor International.

A barrage of dour economic reports, the recent market correction, the U.S. credit downgrade, job insecurity and lower individual net worth pulled the Bankrate Financial Security Index down to 92.3.

U.S. prime money market funds are lowering their exposure to European banks and holding shorter maturity securities, Fitch reports.

With stocks bouncing around like they’re on a trampoline, it can be difficult for investors to find companies that offer any possibility of steady growth or protection against a further slump -- particularly with the economy looking increasingly weak.

iShares has launched the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index Fund.

With stocks bouncing around like they’re on a trampoline, it can be difficult for investors to find companies that offer any possibility of steady growth or protection against a further slump -- particularly with the economy looking increasingly weak. But a handful of consumer goods stocks might ease their pain.

Missing the 10 best days of stock market performance over many years can hurt your portfolio’s performance -- and the only way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to stay invested for the long haul. But one investment firm's research found there's a tremendous flaw in this strategy.

Variable annuities continued to surge in the second quarter of this year, with total sales reaching $40.9 billion, an increase of 16% over the same period last year, according to LIMRA, the Windsor, CT-based financial services research firm.

iShares has launched the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap Index Fund.

Van Eck Global has introduced the Market Vectors Mortgage REIT Income ETF. The fund tracks the Market Vectors Global Mortgage REITs Index, an index that requires constituent companies to derive at least 50% of their revenues from mortgage REITs.