Investments

Robust deal activity seen in the sector

Fidelity Investments has introduced a brokerage trading application complete with real-time news and quotes, interactive charting and watch lists for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The program lets users trade stocks, options, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds.

TD Ameritrade has reorganized its 13,000 mutual fund offerings into four different investment objective categories and turned to independent mutual fund research company Morningstar to rate the “Premier List” of funds.

As more affluent individuals lose faith in their advisors opportunities arise for strong wealth managers to scoop up new clients.

Last year alone, the company was hit with $25.5 billion in redemptions, and in the previous year, $16 billion.

Market Groups to Press Dodd Panel

John Hancock Funds has launched the John Hancock Strategic Income Opportunities Fund, an unconstrained version of the John Hancock Strategic Income Fund.

Investors in the mutual funds of Capital Research & Management appear to have taken notice of the funds being beaten by more than half of their peers in 2008 and 2009, as redemptions are coming in at the fastest pace the company has seen in its 79-year history. Last year alone, the company was hit with $25.5 billion in redemptions, and in the previous year, $16 billion.

The ETF’s management fee is 50 basis points, but when you factor in the expense ratios of the underlying funds, the ETF’s total expense ratio rockets to 181 basis points.

It's about time mutual fund product developers thought out of the Morningstar investment-style box to give portfolio managers the ability to do an about-face.

The president of Muriel Siebert & Co. urges investors to consider putting money into tax-exempt munis.

Investment managers around the world are cautiously optimistic about stocks in the coming year but more guarded about bonds, Towers Watson found in a survey of 98 managers with a total of $13.3 trillion of assets under management. They foresee economic growth, albeit modestly.

It's about time mutual fund product developers thought out of the Morningstar investment-style box to give portfolio managers the ability to do an about-face.

AllianceBernstein Gives Target-Date Funds 20% Leeway to Manage Excessive Risk

Following a fall in January that sent him to intensive care with numerous broken bones, American Century's James E. Stowers has ceded control of the company he founded in 1958 to co-chairman Richard W. Brown.

F-Squared Investments has created the AlphaSector AllWeather Indexes, which aim to serve as a new tool for retirement income and pension plan sponsor funding requirements by concentrating on minimizing downside risk. F-Squared is offering separately managed accounts tracking them, and is currently exploring other product options with several providers.

Only 47% of U.S. respondents were living their ideal life in their golden years.

New stock valuation tools could elevate discussions with clients.

While variable annuity sales eke out a 3% gain, all other areas suffer significant declines.

A booming time for exciting variable annuity riders must give way to a new era of stabilization and rationalization.