Investments

The three business units — a fund of hedge funds, hedge fund seeding and hedge fund advisory businesses — are from Citi Alternative Investment LLC and collectively have $4.2 billion of assets under management.

But drop in sales charges offsets rise in expenses in 2009, the ICI said.

Build America Bond transaction participants are debating whether they need to do more to track BAB prices to avoid running afoul of statutory premium restrictions and jeopardizing the issuer’s subsidy payments or to respond to an Internal Revenue Service compliance check.

Despite a turnaround in the stock market and signs of recovery, a new survey by Citigroup revealed that American consumers still feel pessimistic about the economy, both nationally and locally.

Amid concerns over inflation and growing investors appetite for non-correlated asset classes, American Century has introduced the Strategic Inflation Opportunities Fund. Using fixed income and quantitative equity strategies, the fund invests in U.S. inflation-indexed securities, commodity-related investments and non-U.S. dollar investments.

Despite the potential heavy burden that long-term care costs could place on many Americans during retirement, very few have actually planned for it, according to a survey by Genworth Financial.

Retirement nest eggs are climbing back after suffering through the recession. Assets held in retirement accounts rose 18% from a year earlier to $9.3 trillion as of Dec. 31, according to Spectrem Group.

At MetLife’s sixth annual benefits symposium in Washington this week, Treasury and Department of Labor officials discussed the difficulties of including annuities in 401(k)s. The two agencies have asked the public for comments through May 3 on including lifetime income solutions in employer plans.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has told 50 leading bond mutual fund companies to remove credit ratings on their holdings from advertisements, marketing materials and websites.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed significant revisions to Regulation AB and other rules regarding the offering process, disclosure and reporting for ABS. The 5-0 vote Friday morning counts the SEC as an added player in the huge push coming from various regulators for more “skin-in-the-game” by ABS issuers.

Many of the biggest institutions that own municipal bonds beefed up their holdings last year as state and local government debt became something of a preferred asset.

Assets held in U.S. exchange-traded funds rose 7.2% in March from the previous month to $806 billion, according to monthly data from State Street Global Advisors released last week. ETFs outpaced the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which rose 6%.

ETF assets rose 7.2% in March to $806 billion, according to data from State Street.

NEW YORK -- Asset managers looking for creative new ways to profit during the global recovery have been launching a wave of exchange-traded products that aim to help portfolio managers and sophisticated investors increase their exposure to alternative investments and small-capital stocks.

They've been derided by Warren Buffett and feared by regulators, but some advisers are convincing clients that derivatives are helpful.

After target-date funds took massive losses in 2008-most notably, those with a near-term retirement date that were supposed to protect investors' money-many on Wall Street expected target-date investors to move their savings elsewhere.

Funds Bear Responsibility for Exec Pay: Critics

State and Local Debt Is Prized

Dreyfus has launched the Dreyfus Dynamic Alternatives Fund, a mutual fund designed to provide exposure to a range of hedge fund returns.

Eaton Vance Management has launched the Eaton Vance Commodity Strategy Fund, which will take long and short positions in fixed income instruments, including derivatives, with the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return Index as its benchmark.