Investments

Chinese regulators have approved the first mutual fund to invest in gold, as inflation fears stemming from loose monetary policies in the U.S. are driving interest in the commodity.

A London-based pioneer in commodity exchange-traded funds has quickly made a splash in the United States, and plans to become a force here.

John C. Bogle is a titan of the mutual fund industry, identified most closely with steadfastly promoting the investing principles of slow and steady growth and truthful financial reporting.

John C. Bogle, founder and former chairman and CEO of Vanguard, has received many awards in his lifetime. In 1999, Fortune designated him one of the investment industry's four "Giants of the 20th Century." Princeton University honored Bogle with the Woodrow Wilson Award for "distinguished achievement in the nation's service." In 2004, Time named Bogle one of the world's 100 most powerful and influential people.

1774-Adriaan van Ketwih creates investment trust for investors limited capital in Netherlands called Eendragt Maakt Magt ("unity creates strength.")

Investigation might redefine insider trading.

Cutler Capital Management has launched the Cutler Absolute Return Fund, which aims to provide institutional investors with positive returns, regardless of the market direction.

As it readies for a massive pruning of its mutual fund family, Columbia Management Investment Advisers is promising a stronger, more affordable lineup.

Sales of annuities through banks in September lost their momentum after hitting a peak for the year in March.

A survey of affluent investors by research firm TNS shows that the TNS Investor Confidence Index rose to 116 in October, its highest level since hitting 129 in 2007. Its lowest point was 81 in October 2008.

According to LIMRA’s Guaranteed Income Annuities report released on Monday, women buy six of every 10 immediate annuity contracts, a significant chunk of the $250 billion annuitization market.

Absolute-return funds may only comprise $140 billion, a scant 1.2% of the $11.26 trillion in mutual funds, but that will grow to 10% to 15% over the next decade, predicts Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds.

Stephen Wedel, an LPL adviser and founding partner of Four Seasons Wealth Management in St. Louis, is gathering a lot of assets by investing his clients' money in alternatives, including non-traded real estate investment trusts, oil-and-gas limited partnerships, managed futures and private equity.

Skittish investors withdrew a stunning $3.107 billion from municipal bond mutual funds in the week ending Nov. 17 — the single worst week of outflows and the largest departure of cash in 10 years, according to weekly fund flow data from Lipper FMI.

Fixed annuities give way to variable annuity and mutual fund sales, but September was nothing to write home about.

Many active fund managers get paid to predict where the market is headed—and to get there a step or two ahead of their rivals.But the management of Allianz Global Investors’ Global Investment Solutions Conservative Allocation mutual fund has shunned that approach, and in doing so achieved remarkable success.

AllianceBernstein has launched the AllianceBernstein International Discovery Equity portfolio, a bottom-up fund that will look for small- and mid-cap companies outside the U.S. with strong prospective earnings growth, valuation and management.

Despite the growing argument that buy-and-hold investing and diversification no longer make sense, Burton Malkiel, Princeton economics professor and author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday that is absolutely not true.

How are market conditions? Where are things headed? It all depends on who you listen to and whose surveys you trust.

Mark Notkin, portfolio manager of the $12.8 billion Fidelity Capital & Income Fund, the best-performing high-yield fund in the past five years, says the rally in junk bonds is over. His fund has delivered an average of 9.9% a year and is up 14% this year.