Mutual funds

AQR Capital managed the top-performing liquid alt fund in 2015, returning 17.6%.

Invesco acquired Jemstep, a robo solution for advisors, for an undisclosed sum. It's the latest in a line of digital advice moves from asset management giants, which began in earnest last year.

BlackRock is urging U.S. regulators to exclude ETFs from potential rules that could crimp investment returns.

Here's what mutual fund clients stand to lose when they tap their investments during a down market; Plus, how to get big company 401(k) benefits at small firms.

The acquisition of Jemstep follows the steps of Invesco’s competitors to buy or build a digital platform.

Third Avenue Management, which took the rare step of freezing redemptions in a distressed debt mutual fund last month, saw investors also pull money from its equity funds, contributing to a 21% decline in the firm’s assets last quarter.

Fund flows over the course of a number of years now have been pointing decidedly in favor of passive strategies, he says, be they index, mutual funds or ETFs.

About 9% of the high-yield market now boasts yields above 20% — the highest amount since the financial crisis. Buyer beware.

2015 saw 15 records broken by the corporate bond market in 2015, though not all of them were necessarily positive.

Investors are reassessing expectations for dollar appreciation after the greenback strengthened against all 16 of its major peers last year.

In data collected from looking at the returns of 2,076 fund managers from 1975 to 2006, IFA researchers concluded that 99.4% of fund managers lack "genuine stock-picking ability," while 0.6% were "just lucky" at attaining positive returns.

Vanguard attracted a record $236 billion in net deposits in 2015 as investors flocked to passively managed products.

In the midst of global turmoil, these funds have turned in the best performances over three years.

Chicago-based NextCapital announced a $16 million funding deal in mid-December that includes support from Manulife and AllianceBernstein. It had already found investors in 2014 from Russell Investments and Transamerica Ventures Fund.

Munis produced a 5.8% risk-adjusted return in 2014, more than double the other investments. They also outperformed in 2011 and 2012 as yields -- which move in the opposite direction as price -- fell to the lowest since the 1960s.

A renewed appetite for Irish equities adds another leg to Ireland’s renaissance among international investors, seven years after the financial crash sent them running for the exit.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index, a measure of returns for 22 components, slumped about 25 % in 2015. The gauge is headed for a fifth annual loss, the longest streak since the data begins in 1991.

Pimco’s high-yield municipal-bond mutual fund is jockeying for the top returns of 2015 after picking winners among pockets of distress.

Vineer Bhansali is leaving Pimco, where he was a managing director specializing in quantitative portfolios, to start his own investment firm.

Avenue Credit Strategies Fund, a high-yield fund run by Marc Lasry’s Avenue Capital Management, put about 45% of its portfolio into cash earlier this week.