Investments

The fund will invest in money market and investment-grade debt.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw modest inflows of $639.9 million in the week ended March 7, increasing total net assets to $323.67 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

The fund will invest in money market and investment-grade debt.

The campaign showcases three of the firm’s top-performing funds.

Variable annuities with guaranteed living benefit riders surged up 78% in the past two years to more than $521 billion in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a new LIMRA report charting the sales prowess of more than 95% of the variable annuity sector.

U.S. investors have warmed to exchange-traded funds in a big way over the past five years and their growing familiarity with the expanding variety of products available helped pushed the total value of U.S. ETF assets over the $1 trillion mark last month, according to a report from State Street Global Advisors.

According to PIMCO, consultants said that active management makes the most sense for all asset classes, except large-cap U.S. equities.

As exchange-traded funds have gained in popularity, confusion has grown over how to pick the ETF right for investor portfolios. Now Charles Schwab has stepped up to fill in the gap.

Fixed indexed and income annuity sales shook off a lackluster to start to the year to finish 2010 with some much-needed momentum, according to Beacon Research's latest research.

Fewer hedge funds opened their doors in the fourth quarter, according to HFR Hedge Fund Research.

Concerns about rising oil prices and an end to the stock market rally once quantitative easing ends has caused 40% of hedge fund managers to be bearish on U.S. equities, up from 26% in January, according to the TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers. And only 26% are bullish, down from 37%.

Sales rose 18% in the fourth quarter to $37.6 billion.

Most of Canada's largest financial services firms have and will continue to invest heavily in IT projects for the foreseeable future to garner more customers and stay ahead of the compliance and regulation curve.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Nothing that Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner or President Barack Obama can do will prevent the United States economy from coming apart, under the weight of public and private debt.

Variable annuity assets in the U.S. reached an all-time record of $1.5 trillion in 2010, with fourth-quarter sales rises 18% year-over-year to $37.6 billion, the Insured Retirement Institute announced Monday.

Concerns about rising oil prices and an end to the stock market rally once quantitative easing ends has caused 40% of hedge fund managers to be bearish on U.S. equities, up from 26% in January, according to the TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers. And only 26% are bullish, down from 37%.

NEW YORK-Unemployment may still be 9%. Single-family home starts may be down again. But the outlook from the corner office of fund managers is increasingly sunny.

Whether they call it "aggressive recruiting" or poaching, financial services companies across the board are predicting the practice will intensify in the coming year, forcing many of them to sweeten their offers and actively seek out skilled professionals both within and outside the industry.

Advisor sales productivity reached $228,684 in 2010, up from $216,738 in 2009, according to Kehrer-LIMRA’s founder Ken Kehrer and chief operating officer Scott Stathis, at the 2011 Bank Insurance and Secruities conference in Hollywood, Fla. Hiring also is up.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Brent crude oil futures for April 2011 delivery ended the week’s trading session at $115.78 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange at close Friday evening.