Investments

LIMRA released a list of its top 20 writers of overall total annuities, variable annuities and fixed annuities for 2010.

Even if you outsource stock picking, or buy only mutual funds, somebody somewhere has to select stocks.

The dispersion of performance between best and worst performers narrows.

But only 10% think blue-chip stocks will be the best performers this year.

Municipal bonds have notched a good week as governments’ willingness to refrain from borrowing means investors with money to spend mostly have to chase existing bonds in the secondary market.

Certified public accountants expressed their highest level of optimism on the U.S. economy since the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest AICPA/UNC Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey, in which 1,168 CPAs were queried. In addition, the CPAs’ expectations for hiring and capital spending on IT and other areas improved slightly.

Thirty-six percent of the 1,019 investors that Edward Jones surveyed said they believe technology will be the best-performing sector in 2011, and 31% are betting on gold.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF, rounding out its suite of Latin American exchange-traded funds.

Equity funds see inflows of $2.53 billion, down from $6.42 billion the week before.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday unanimously agreed to propose amendments to its Rule 2a-7 that would remove all credit rating references from the rule, which requires money market funds to invest in high-quality and very liquid short-term securities.

Mahoney, who has worked for the San Mateo, Calif., based investment manager since 1993, is “now responsible for overseeing and mentoring the firm’s internal sales staff, and will also seek ways to enhance sales techniques to make them more salient in the digital age.”

Companies may need to provide more information to assess climate change risks and opportunities.

The Kansas City, Mo., based institutional asset manager announced Wednesday it hired Michael Hedstrom as a senior vice president of marketing.

But their outlook is not positive on government bonds and the job outlook, a Towers Watson survey finds.

According to survey results released Wednesday, when RBC Capital Markets asked 100 state and local government experts at The Bond Buyer Texas Public Finance Conference last month whether they would buy municipal bonds for their own portfolios, all 100 said yes.

Jeff Saut is bullish, despite expectations for a 5% to 10% correction in domestic markets.

Fund managers are bullish on the prospects for equities and emerging markets in 2011, but have bearish views on government bonds, a survey of 141 fund managers at the end of 2010 by Towers Watson found.

Transamerica Asset Management, having completed its adoption of the TS&W International Equity Portfolio, has re-introduced the fund as the Transamerica TS&W International Equity Fund.

Thirty-four percent of the 3,171 adults that The Harris Poll surveyed in February expect the economy to improve in the coming year, 42% expect it to stay the same and 25% think it could get worse.

Harbor Funds has launched the Harbor Flexible Capital Fund, managed by Marsico Capital Management.