Investments

Morningstar has added sophisticated asset allocation and forecasting functionality to Morningstar Direct, its investment analysis platform for institutional investors.

American Beacon Advisors has launched the American Beacon Flexible Bond Fund, which seeks to deliver positive returns no matter what the market direction by investing in a broad range of fixed income instruments.

After a period of booming sales in first quarter of 2011, annuity sales through banks have fallen off significantly, according to a new report by Kehrer-LIMRA, the banking industry research unit of LIMRA.

BlackRock reviews its accuracy for the year so far. Barclays advises on building a muni porfolio. Raymond James sees reasons to buy.

American Beacon Advisors has launched the American Beacon Flexible Bond Fund, which seeks to deliver positive returns no matter what the market direction by investing in a broad range of fixed income instruments.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index gained 0.50 percentage points in June, rising from 99.5 to 100.00—an increase of 5.4% from June 2010.

So whatever happened to that Armageddon in the $475-billion municipal bond fund market?

Euro Pacific Asset Management has launched the EuroPac Hard Asset Fund, a new investment product designed to mitigate against inflation and the dollar devaluation.

Late last year, prominent banking analyst Meredith Whitney warned investors that between 50 and 100 municipalities were headed for default and that the carnage would cost investors hundreds of billions of dollars. But at the midway point of 2011, that's hardly been the case.

American workers lapsed into investing inertia after the market collapsed in 2008, but standing still actually benefited many and helped their workplace retirement plan balances rebound by 31% between 2007 and 2010, Vanguard said.

After a strong start in the first four months of 2011, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds both saw cash flow out of products that invest long-term in stocks at the end of the second quarter.

The John Hancock Investor Sentiment Index fell four points in the second quarter to 18, down from 22 in the first quarter, when John Hancock debuted the index.

Euro Pacific Asset Management has launched the EuroPac Hard Asset Fund¸ designed to mitigate against inflation and the dollar devaluation.

After reaching its highest point since the beginning of the recession, 46.7 in June, the RBC Consumer Outlook Index retreated by three points to 43.7 in July.

After rising in the first quarter, The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence retreated sharply in the second quarter to 55, down 12 points from 67. While still above 50, which reflects a more positive than negative outlook, the reading seems to indicate chief executive officers are bracing for slower growth.

American workers lapsed into investing inertia after the market collapsed in 2008, but standing still actually benefited many and helped their workplace retirement plan balances rebound by 31% between 2007 and 2010, Vanguard said this week.

Wells Fargo Funds Management has launched the Wells Fargo Advantage Dow Jones Target 2055 Fund, a target-date fund benchmarked against the Dow Jones Target 2055 Index and sub-advised by Global Index Advisors, State Street Global Advisors and Wells Capital Management.

JPMorgan Chase said it agreed to pay $211.2 million to settle federal and state probes into the conduct of some of its former workers on its municipal derivatives desk, prior to 2006.

REITs continue to beat the S&P 500, according to NAREIT, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. In the first half of 2011, U.S. REITs were up almost 10%, compared to 6% for the S&P 500.

Hedge fund managers have turned decidedly bearing on U.S. equities and the economy, according to a survey of 87 managers by TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge.