Investments

Standard & Poor’s has announced the finalists for its inaugural U.S. Mutual Fund Excellence Awards program.There are 29 funds, from a starting pool of 19,000 mutual funds. Seventeen fund families are represented across ten categories. Gold, silver and bronze award recipients in each category will be announced during a live video broadcast in November, from S&P’s offices, the company said.

Investors’ outlook is cautiously optimistic, with nearly half expecting gains in the year ahead despite their concerns over the sluggish economy, Scottrade found in a survey.

There are 29 funds, from a starting pool of 19,000 mutual funds. Seventeen fund families are represented across ten categories. Gold, silver and bronze award recipients in each category will be announced during a live video broadcast in November, from S&P’s offices, the company said.

The fund giant has cut cost in 52 funds by lowering the qualifications for Admiral Shares.

New satellite section on homepage is called J.P. Morgan On Demand.

Gotham Asset Management, a newly formed firm that will focus specifically “on the institutional segment of the market,” has officially opened for business, Joel Greenblatt, its managing principal and co-CIO, said.

In a move that “further enhances the fixed-income capabilities of the firm,” Highmark Capital Management has hired Jeffrey Klein as VP and portfolio manager for its Fixed Income Group, the Union Bank subsidiary said Tuesday.

An increasing number of financial advisors advocate using alternative investments in client portfolios as a way to increase diversification, according to the 2010 Rydex|SGI Annual AdvisorBenchmarking Study.

AQR Capital Management has launched the AQR Risk Parity Fund, whose main aim is to seek consistent returns with reduced equity market exposure.

Eaton Vance Tuesday announced the launch of the Eaton Vance Option Absolute Return Strategy Fund, a fund that aims to deliver returns independent of the stock and bond markets and that is benchmarked against short-term cash instruments.

Rydex/SGI annual benchmarking study finds majority of those surveyed are using alternatives in client portfolios.

John Hancock Funds on Monday announced the launch of the John Hancock Currency Strategies Fund, a fund that will make diversified investments in global currencies and that is managed by First Quadrant.

While exchange-traded funds have been one of the biggest-selling mutual fund categories, small, niche products are finding it hard to make a go of it. Of the 129 new exchange-traded funds introduced this year, 37, or 28%, are already closed.

With investors consistently and rather alarmingly rushing to the exits of equity mutual funds ever since the May 6 Flash Crash-shareholders have yanked $72.9 billion out of stock funds-asset managers are aggressively reducing fees at an unprecedented rate.

James Lam & Associates, enterprise risk management

Loomis Sayles has launched the Loomis Sayles Multi-Asset Real Return Fund, which will invest in a variety of asset classes around the world, including derivatives, commodities and REITs, to combat all types of inflationary environments, including: inflation, debtflation, stagflation and deflation.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch fended off a summer onslaught from Citi to hold on to the top spot among municipal bond underwriters through three quarters of the year.

Nomura Securities International Inc. said on Monday that it hired Pascal Bandelier and Paul Sangimino as co-heads of U.S. cash equities in New York.

Global bond and equity investors are not just relying on the U.S. to power economic growth in the world anymore, said presenters at a Natixis Global Asset Management press luncheon in New York Sept. 29.

Commissioners detail the trade that sunk the market, but won't comment on whose fault it was or what they're doing to fix the problem.