Investments

After the Depression, it took 25 years for the market to come back. After the “great recession” it took a matter of weeks.

Despite excitement surrounding investing in emerging markets, many industry observers worry the sector won't be able to measure up to expectations.

Build America Bonds have begun to reshape long-term taxable bond indexes that until now included little state and local government debt.

Hedge funds finished the volatile first half with modest declines. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index lost 0.81% in June, more than offsetting the gains in the first five months of the year to leave the index down 0.18% for the first half of 2010.

If the latest version of financial reform becomes law as expected, banks would lose a lucrative but wildly unpredictable source of profits scaling back so-called alternative investments over the next several years.

In the perennial debate over active versus passive investing, FundQuest calls a draw.

It might seem strange to bring up reverse mortgages in a space dedicated to the lives of Baby Boomers.

Closed-end municipal bond funds continue to enjoy shelter from the turbulence plaguing the rest of the sector.

BlackRock has reduced the fee on its iShares Comex Gold Trust exchange-traded fund by more than a third, to 25 basis points. The firm apparently is tossing its hat into the ETF fee wars started by Schwab, Fidelity and Vanguard.

Prompted by a shift toward defined contribution plans and regulatory changes, European fund managers and their asset servicing providers will increase their spending on portfolio management and accounting systems to $787 million by 2012, from about $646 million in 2009, according to a report released by Aite Group.

Citi and Bank of America Merrill Lynch continue to vie for the top underwriting position in the municipal bond industry, according to mid-year rankings from Thomson Reuters.

Investors pulled cash out of municipal bond mutual funds last week for just the third time in a year and a half, despite a strong week for state and local government debt.

Investment advisers may face tough compliance issues in the wake of the Securities and Exchange Commission's unanimous adoption last week of rules designed to prevent IAs from making political contributions to elected officials to obtain business from state and local pension funds, investment pools and college-savings accounts.

Under the theory that lucrative investment opportunities like alternative energy will be more likely to spring from overseas markets, Fidelity Investments is positioning its 20-year-old environmental energy mutual fund right at the crossroads of those two sectors.

Annuities sales through banks maintained their modest recovery pace in April after hitting record lows at the beginning of the year.

Just as the alternative energy industry will most likely provide lucrative investment opportunities, so will the overseas markets in the coming years, which is why Fidelity Investments is positioning its 20-year-old environmental energy mutual fund right at the crossroads of those two businesses.

Fear is the new name of the investing game. It's what drove investors to take $527 billion off the table in May, and it's what continues to rattle the market, with the Dow's 268-point drop on Tuesday and second 115-point decline at deadline two perfect examples.

Citi and Bank of America Merrill Lynch continued to vie for the top underwriting position in the municipal bond industry, according to mid-year rankings from Thomson Reuters.

NYSE Technologies and Markit Group said Thursday they will consolidate their pools of data on trading in over-the-counter stocks in Europe.

Sales of fixed annuities rose in recent months despite a negative spread with CDs.