Investments

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Food ETF, in anticipation of growing demand for food, driven by the growth of emerging market nations.

The Federal Reserve’s ultra-easy monetary policy has been a major cause of rising corporate profits and a broader recovery, says Black Rock Chief Equity Strategist Bob Doll. The Fed has also helped bring about the decline in the dollar, boosting exports.

Product includes portfolios managed like institutional and endowment funds.

Allianz Life Insurance Co., the largest annuity provider in the U.S. with more than $2 billion in sales last year, this week announced a strategic partnership with seven broker-dealers that will add its Allianz Retirement ProSM variable annuity to their advisory platforms.

How is a financial advisor supposed to go through the array of annuity products on offer and find the best ones for each client’s investment and retirement needs, especially when many of the products on offer are changing almost every year?

Biggest users are those at traditional wirehouses, with a penetration rate of 94.9%, a survey by Kasina and Horsesmouth finds.

The Commission may cap and rename the marketing fees charged to fund investors.

Lord Abbett has launched the Lord Abbett Inflation Focused Fund.

Harbor Funds on Monday announced two new funds, the Harbor Emerging Markets Debt Fund, to be managed by Stone Harbor Investment Partners, and the Harbor Convertible Securities Fund, to be managed by Shenkman Capital Management.

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The United States' economy has "in absolute and relative terms been a better bet" than other economies around the globe -- and the death of Osama Bin Laden may well change how the rest of the world looks at America's prospects, CNBC Analyst and Commentator Ron Insana said Monday morning.

According to data compiled for IRI by Morningstar, Inc., new sales were $136.6 billion in 2010, up 10.3% from 2009, when new sales totaled $123.9 billion. What’s more, assets reached an all-time high of $1.5 trillion, finally lifting the variable annuity industry above the pre-crisis levels of the third quarter of 2007.

While exchange-traded funds are soaring in popularity and investor cash continues to flow liberally into retirement accounts, closed-end funds have all but been forgotten by a large swath of the advisor community even though they offer some pretty compelling and unique benefits.

Pioneer seeks to meet demand for innovative fixed income funds.

A federal cap on tax-exempt bonds could gradually wean investors and issuers off the muni market and toward a permanent, expanded Build America Bond market that has a flexible subsidy rate, a new report from the Center for American Progress argues.

For those investors who still feel like they've been punished by the market in recent years, one advisor has found the carrot to lure them back.

International and emerging markets funds find profit in natural resources, energy and growth of the middle class in developing nations.

Ignored by the advisor universe, the use of managed futures has staged a comeback.

A defined benefit cash balance plan is ideal for high income business owners.

Once belonging to the likes of farmers and traders, investors now consider the real asset value of market commodities.

Pioneer Investments Friday announced the launch of two new funds, the Pioneer Absolute Return Credit Fund and the Pioneer Multi-Asset Floating Rate Fund.