Investments

The fixed-income trend is leading the bumper inflows for bond-heavy fund families, while investors continue to punish American Funds for not being “bear-proof.”

Fixed-income funds held their siren-like draw for investors, contributing largely to long-term mutual funds’ $16.8 billion in inflows in August, according to a Morningstar analysis.

State Street Global Advisors has launched a global natural resources exchange-traded fund.

The U.S. economy is on an expansionary, albeit sluggish, path—not toward a double-dip recession, says BNY Mellon Chief Economist Richard B. Hoey. In the near term, however, hold onto your hats: The “most pronounced weakness in the U.S. economy” will become apparent in the second and third quarters of this year, he says.

Altegris Advisors has launched the Altegris Managed Futures Strategy Fund, an actively managed mutual fund aimed at both retail and professional investors. In launching the fund, the alternative investments manager noted that in the past decade, U.S. stocks declined 17%, but managed futures gained 122%.

Advisors are turning to annuities, using tactical asset allocation and continuing to move to fee-based business models, as they cope with the effects that the sluggish economic climate is having on their practices, according to findings from the latest Russell’s Financial Professional Outlook, released last week.

The SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF began trading on the NYSE Arca on Tuesday.

The service leverages Citi’s existing services for traditional mutual funds and their investment advisors.

Broker dealer BTIG Ltd. has expanded its global fixed-income group to include a London-based team focused on emerging markets, it announced Monday.

Morgan Stanley announced Monday it has named Paul Price head of the firm’s investment management international sales.

Citi’s Global Transaction Services unit has launched a suite of regulatory administration and compliance support services for hedge funds, private equity funds and their SEC-registered investment advisors. The service leverages Citi’s existing services for traditional mutual funds and their investment advisors.

Retail investors ignored the pullback in the state and local government debt market last week, committing the third-heaviest slug of new money to municipal bond mutual funds this year.

Mutual fund managers - not their hedge fund counterparts - are the original alpha males (and females).

The Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to revise its approach to circuit breakers on the nation's equities exchanges, to include a "careful review" of price bands that limit how far up or down the price of a stock can move at any given time.

The class-action lawsuit initiated by Third Avenue Management against the Reserve Primary Fund is only just beginning and will undoubtedly make for salacious headlines in the months ahead.

State Street Corp., known for its passive asset management, may soon expand its small active management business.

Vanguard has launched eight index mutual funds and nine exchange-traded funds based on Standard & Poor's domestic stock benchmarks.

Allianz Alternative Asset Management has offered fund of hedge funds since 1981. The company’s funds are expected to compliment Nexar’s fund of hedge funds group, which is primarily located in New York.

Invesco PowerShares has launched four specialized ETFs, one on REITs, based on exclusive rights to indexes from Keefe Bruyette & Woods.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday approved the expansion of its post-Flash Crash circuit breaker program to include all stocks in the Russell 1000 Index and a test group of exchange-traded funds.