Investments

Factor Advisors has launched five leverage exchange-traded funds that hold both a bull and a bear position. The initial FactorShares ETFs combine holdings in the S&P 500 Index, U.S. Treasury bonds, gold, oil and the U.S. dollar.

Vanilla as they may be, annuities still represent the lifeblood of many investors' portfolios because they deliver a steady, predictable income throughout retirement.

Equity funds net $6.42 billion, with the bulk going to domestic stock funds.

Two state-specific municipal bond portfolios managed by BlackRock Inc. were slated to be closed to investors effective Wednesday, a day after the firm began liquidating the funds' investments, according to a Feb. 18 addendum to the funds' prospectuses.

In a survey of affluent U.S. investors, HSBC Securities reported a growing interest in overseas investing, and an opportunity for advisers to provide more information.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose 5.6 points this month to 70.4, up from 64.8 in January.

The State Street Investor Confidence Index, which measures the buying and selling patterns of institutional investors, fell 9.2 points in February to 91.6, down from 100.8 in January. In North America, the index fell 6.8 points to 92.5, down from 99.3.

GE Asset Management has completed its appointment of Highland Funds Asset Management as investment advisor for the GE Funds. GE will serve as sub-advisor to all of the funds except the GE Small-Cap Equity Fund, which uses other third-party sub-advisors.

Putnam Investments announced Tuesday that it is developing an absolute return fund for use in variable annuities and other variable insurance products.

According to a survey by HSBC, wealthy investors would like to invest more abroad.

The tide of cash washing out of municipal bond mutual funds continued to ebb last week as more and more of the “hot money” that flooded the industry the last two years seems to have escaped by now.

Most people don’t think about it, but there is a liquidity premium on publicly traded securities just as there is a risk premium, yet most only think about it in the case of extremely illiquid assets such as private equity.

Financial advisors at U.S. banks raked in an average of $27,809 in commission and fees in December, up modestly from an average of $27,418 in November thanks mainly to widening spreads between fixed annuities and certificate of deposit rates.

67% are overweight the asset class, according to the BoA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers.

Planning for retirement isn’t just about hitting the “magic number.”

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index rose 0.1% in January to 112.3, following a 0.8% rise in December and a 1.1% increase in November.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X FTSE ASEAN 40 ETF, which targets the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, comprised of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. The fund tracks the FTSE/ASEAN 40 Index.

Fund managers are the most bullish they have been on global equities they have been in a decade, with 67% overweight the asset class, according to the February BoA Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers, which surveyed 188 fund managers with total assets of $569 billion under management. This is up from 55% in January and 40% in December.

The platform, which offers products from Axa, Allianz, Lincoln Financial, Prudential and Sun Life, enables discretionary management of variable annuity assets.

Annuities sold through banks hit a rough patch last year, but 2011 looks brighter as interest rates begin to rise and the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to improve.