Investments

For the fourth week in row, equity funds gained assets. Of the $8.18 billion, $3.52 billion went into funds that invest in U.S. stocks.

Data from Research Affiliates shows low volatility portfolios have produced higher returns than traditional large-cap portfolios over the past 5, 10, and 20 years.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. paid investment bankers and traders about 3% less in 2012 as shaky economies in the U.S. and Europe put a damper on deals, said two people with knowledge of the firm’s compensation.

In a potentially encouraging sign for all equity investors, the majority of investors with $5 million or more in net worth plan to invest in equities.

The sequel is never as good as the original. Advisors have a hard time repeating outperformance.

Henderson Global Investors (North America) has gotten a bit more global.

The Iowa Regents Board, based off of a recent RFI inquiry substantiated by investment consultant Wilshire Associates, is assigned to vote on a money market mutual fund recommendation this week.

Eaton Vance Management has formed a cash management unit and has hired fund executives to help manage its new business.

The global exchange-traded product industry surpassed the $2 trillion mark last month, finishing the month with $40.2 billion of inflows, according to BlackRock’s latest ETP Landscape report.

Citi has snagged a mandate from Forward Management to provide global custody services to support the Forward Funds, a family of traditional and alternative mutual funds with assets of $6 billion.

Confluence has promoted two its key executives - James “Skip” Smith and Frederick Winston - to the roles of chief operating officer and chief financial officer, respectively.

Genworth Financial Wealth Management introduced GPS Select Solutions, multi-strategic portfolios that serve a variety of specific investment goals.

Institutional investors will broaden their ETF applications in 2013, predicted BlackRock’s iShares group.

BlackRock the world’s biggest money manager, is accused in a lawsuit by two pension funds of reaping “grossly excessive” compensation from securities- lending returns associated with iShares.

According to the Miami firm, the funds are closing in oder to prevent inflows from new investors from diluting the proportionate interests of existing fund shareholders.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. President Gary Cohn said that Europe still faces “fundamental problems” and that policy makers don’t appear to have a plan for generating economic growth in the region’s southern nations.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's municipal market priority this year will be ensure that brokers adequately disclose risks associated with tax-exempt bonds backed by revenue from private and nonprofit entities, which have significantly higher default rates than general obligation bonds.

Not in Fairholme's in-crowd? Investors have one month before it's too little, too late.

Excelsior, MN-based LoCorr Fund Management is looking to add another alternative mutual fund to its lineup.

iShares is prepping an active exchange-traded bond fund to launch within the next two months.