Investments

The TCW Group Inc., an international asset management firm, has voluntarily withdrawn its UST/TCW Senior Mortgage Securities Fund LP from the Treasury's Public-Private Investment Program.

WASHINGTON — With rock-bottom interest rates expected to begin rising soon, regulators and industry representatives are increasingly concerned about institutions' ability to weather a boomerang effect on their funding costs.

The Wealth Hazards Worry Index now indicates that the number of people who believe the U.S. economy could enter another recession in 2010 now stands at 40%. Only 28% are confident a recession will not reoccur in 2010.

With borrowing in the U.S. and the U.K. at record levels, deficit concerns have prompted PIMCO to pare back its exposure to corporate bonds, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and mortgage-backed securities. This is according to the 2010 investment outlook that PIMCO Portfolio Manager Paul McCulley recently issued.

Calamos Investments, which has $30.5 billion of assets under management, has elected to make State Street Corp. its sole investment servicing provider for all of its U.S. and global products. As a result, State Street will expand beyond its current back-office offerings to provide custody, fund administration and securities lending services.

H&R Block has settled with the New York Attorney General over alleged excessive fees it charged investors it steered to its Express IRA. The tax preparer will refund between $11.4 million and $19.4 million to customers and pay $750,000 in fines and fees.

With asset managers continuing to slice and dice the investment landscape by introducing niche products, Lazard Asset Management LLC announced Tuesday that it launched an actively managed mutual fund that focuses on infrastructure companies.

Chinese fund managers are cutting back on their equity exposure to an average of 86.4%, down from 88.3%, according to a Reuters poll. Evidently, soaring real estate prices has many investment managers expecting the Chinese government to impose monetary policies to curb the runaway prices.

The RIA's new fund complements traditional U.S.-based equity and fixed-income investments.

A small Atlanta registered investment advisory firm is hoping to drum up business by offering personalized 401(k) advice, but analysts warn that drilling down to offer investment advice to retirement plan participants could be more trouble than it is worth.

AXA Equitable has introduced the Retirement Cornerstone annuity, a dual-track product that offers exposure to both aggressive growth and investment protect.

With asset managers continuing to slice and dice the investment landscape by introducing niche products, Lazard Asset Management LLC announced Tuesday that it launched an actively managed mutual fund that focuses on infrastructure companies.

The tax preparation company agreed to pay as much as $20.2 million to customers that bought its Express IRAs.

Long-term mutual funds took in $12.25 billion in the week ended Dec. 23, bringing the sales streak to 41 weeks and a total of $413 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

With investors pouring money into emerging markets many are forgetting that along with potentially stellar returns are enormous risks that can slam investors’ wallets.

After a strong 2009, the company hopes to leap into the top five by the end of 2011.

A number of executives at Saturna Capital donated their holiday bonuses to charities, the second year in a row they did so.

After years of adding innumerable bells and whistles to annuities to attract investors, insurance carriers have begun to prune their offerings—not just to simplify them but to reduce their indemnification, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Third Avenue Management announced Monday that Martin Whitman, one of the company’s co-founder, has stepped down from his role as co-CIO.

A number of executives at Saturna Capital donated their holiday bonuses to charities, the second year in a row they did so.