Investments

Latin America and Asia are now an integral part of large funds’ bond and equity strategies.

The coming weeks will be interesting and advisors will be caught in the middle trying to strike a balance.

A closer examination of why (and why not) annuities belong in a 401(k) plan.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to launch its new office of municipal securities by the end of October, chairman Mary Schapiro said in prepared testimony presented to the Senate Banking Committee Thursday.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes rose slightly as an influx of new-issue supply weighed on municipals.

UMB Financial Corp. has added a leg to its distribution structure for health savings accounts.

Dodge and Cox has launched the Dodge & Cox Worldwide Funds-International Stock Fund, an Ireland-domiciled UCITS (undertaking for collective investment in transferrable securities).

Boston firm brings its institutional strategies to high-net worth individuals.

Equity funds continue to lose assets, with redemptions totaling $1.9 billion in the week ended Sept. 22.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has quietly hired the head-hunting firm Korn/Ferry ­International to find candidates to lead a new municipal securities office that will have a higher stature within the SEC.

The return of bank profitability, coupled with some of the provisions of the federal stimulus, coaxed banks to buy state and local government debt in the first half.

Long-term mutual funds took in an estimated $5.75 billion in the week ended Sept. 22, the Investment Company Institute said Wednesday.

Lindner Capital Advisors is offering the Equinox MutualHedge Fund, a managed futures solution, to non-accredited retail investors. Equinox Fund Management is providing the underlying MutualHedge instrument.

The new rules permit mutual funds to earn income from commodities.

Scott Ebner joins State Street in this key role from NYSE Euronext.

Thirty percent of mutual fund owners are willing to take substantial or above-average risk, ICI reports.

ING Investment Management Americas is launching a globally focused fixed-income fund that is expected to outperform market benchmarks by investing in debt securities for its institutional clients, the firm said Tuesday.

SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, the full-service corporate and investment banking arm of SunTrust Banks, has beefed up its institutional fixed-income team with the addition of six professionals, the firm said.

The State Street Investor Confidence Index reading of the outlook of institutional investors showed a four-point decline in September to 88, down from 92 in August. In North America, the drop was more pronounced; the confidence level fell 7.3 points to 87.9 from August’s reading of 95.2.

The Basel III bank capital requirements proposed earlier this month threaten to eviscerate the supply of eligible investments for tax-free money market funds — an industry already struggling with a severe supply shortage.