Investments

In anticipation of the U.S. dollar's declining value, many investors are busy adjusting their portfolios to get more exposure to other major currencies. But a new research report from Merk Investments suggests that they may not be nearly as diversified as they need to be.

BlackRock’s iShares exchange-traded fund division has launched the iShares Floating Rate Note Fund (ticker: FLOT), its first floating rate fund.

Overall, hedge funds had generally positive performance numbers since January. But May numbers, when isolated, told a much different story.

Fifty-nine percent of Americans are not confident the U.S. economy will rebound within the next year, a survey of 1,011 adults by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards found.

Citigroup has completed an "extensive upgrade" of its electronic trading infrastructure and now says it is providing institutional clients with continuous, 24-hour access to global markets.

Registered Fund Services and UMB Fund Services have jointly developed a turnkey registered hedge fund program.

Eaton Vance Management has launched the Eaton Vance Municipal Opportunities Fund, a fund that employs an opportunistic approach to investing in municipal obligations, with the aim of maximizing after-tax total return.

Average daily volume in stock trading is averaging 7.6 billion shares this year, according to a rundown of statistics at the market structure panel run Tuesday by Richard Repetto of Sandler O'Neill, the respected industry analyst. Once upon a time, they would call this a doldrum.

Direxion has launched five new daily leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, focused on sectors that have attracted large assets and have high trading volume.

A panel of JPMorgan Chase strategists and portfolio managers this week made it clear that while there are opportunities for equities investors in the U.S., there are better options in both developed international equities markets and in emerging markets.

Direxion has launched five new daily leveraged and inverse exchange-traded funds, focused on sectors that have attracted large assets and have high trading volume.

Enrollment in high-deductible health insurance plans that can be linked to health savings plans rose 14% in 2010, according to the trade association America’s Health Insurance Plans. And since 2008, enrollment has in such plans spiked by 87%.

Orange Business Services said it launched an online store for selling applications that can run on its intelligent trading turret devices. The apps will run on its Open Trade smart turret, introduced in 2010 and intended to be used as a “personal trading assistant.''

A new survey from Polachi Inc., a Framingham, Mass.-based executive recruiter for clean technology and venture capital firms, found that 77% of venture capital executives are more confident and optimistic about their industry today than they were a year ago.

The 1976 film “All the President’s Men” made famous the line "follow the money" and inspired an entire generation of muckraking journalists. Now some analysts at Standard & Poor's are saying their research shows this philosophy could also serve as a good starting point for identifying strong-performing mutual funds.

IndexIQ has launched the IQ US Real Estate Small Cap ETF (ticker: ROOF), which it says is the first ETF focused on small-cap U.S. real estate.

The fund will be sub-advised by four global advisory firms.

Positive yet cautious hiring intentions are expected to persist throughout the summer, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey. The Net Employment Outlook for the third quarter is +8%, up from +6% in the third quarter of 2010.

IndexIQ this week launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) for investors looking for exposure to small-cap real estate stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

John Hancock Mutual Funds has launched three new fundamental equity funds, the John Hancock Fundamental Large Cap Core Fund, John Hancock Fundamental Large Cap Value Fund and John Hancock Fundamental All Cap Core Fund.