Mutual funds

As a rout in energy prices spreads to global equities, investors are returning to gold to take cover. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest bullion exchange-traded product, rose yesterday at the fastest pace since July. The holdings are up almost 1% in December, snapping four straight months of losses.

Fund managers need to focus on more than the strategies they intend to execute. They must also structure their funds and organizations in ways that address both increasing regulation and investors' concerns about the safekeeping of assets.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is weighing a bid for Frank Russell Co.’s asset management arm, a business the London Stock Exchange Group is preparing to sell early next year, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Man Group, the largest publicly traded hedge fund manager in the world, will buy fund-of-hedge funds assets from Merrill Lynch Alternative Investments to expand in the U.S. The London-based firm will acquire the contracts to manage Merrill’s $1.2 billion multi-strategy investments, and will pay Merrill Lynch $2.9 million when the deal closes and 35% of the management fees generated annually for five years, not to exceed $30 million.

Bill Gross’s main bond fund at Janus Capital Group Inc. received an estimated $769 million in new money last month, bringing assets above $1 billion. His Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund reported assets of $1.21 billion as of Nov. 28. That’s an increase from $442.9 million from the prior month.

Supplying Chinese equity demand is not a simple process of deciding to launch an ETF product, providers say. There are a number of operational challenges that a firm must navigate to make the offering available, including managing a complex system of global exchange that involves precise timings and potential risks for clients.

Bill Gross’s exit unleashed a crisis that Pimco is still trying to contain. His departure was followed by record withdrawals from the mutual fund he once ran, and which he built into the world’s biggest.

The world of what one might broadly label values-based investing has changed and expanded significantly in recent years. It has largely been a niche sector, albeit a growing one. But some advisors expect generational changes to affect future growth.

New York Life Insurance Co. agreed to buy asset manager IndexIQ, pushing into exchange-traded funds and adding offerings for retail investors who want to copy hedge fund approaches.

Northwestern Mutual completed its $2.7 billion sale of asset manager Russell Investments to the London Stock Exchange Group, the Milwaukee, Wis. firm announced.

Calling it a good investment, Northwestern Mutual completed its $2.7 billion sale of asset manager Russell Investments to the London Stock Exchange Group after 15 years of ownership.

The SEC's changes in July to Rule 2a-7 governing money market funds may be simple in concept - but they will require significant changes in fund operations. Fund transfer agents and other service providers must significantly reengineer their processes to comply with the new rules between now and 2016, when the most significant changes take effect.

Corporate bond sales worldwide are poised to set an annual record as soon as this week as companies lock in borrowing costs that forecasters say are bound to rise. Amazon.com., Volkswagen and Alibaba have propelled offerings to $3.96 trillion this year, about $7 billion short of the peak of $3.97 trillion in 2012.

John Jacobs, executive vice president of global information services at Nasdaq and pioneer of the QQQ ETF, reflects on the growth of the ETF industry and shares his predictions on upcoming trends.

Aberdeen Asset Management, Europe’s largest publicly traded money manager by assets, reported $32 billion of outflows in the full year as investor sentiment toward emerging markets waned.

A recent study compared advisors’ reactions during the last financial meltdown to PTSD. Here’s my advice for beating stress when markets go haywire.

An analysis compares portfolios built using 'smart beta' indexes against those whose components are weighted by market cap. See the results.

Treasuries gained, sending 10-year yields a one-month low, as jobless claims rose, business- equipment orders fell and home sales were less than forecast, raising concern about the health of the economic recovery.

The end of the year is the perfect time to think about what you accomplished and what you want to accomplish in the next twelve months. This checklist will help ensure you've thought through the major considerations to plan your distribution strategy for 2015.

Among recent notable product launches is an ETF aimed at accessing China's onshore bond market, a new index that will track publicly-listed companies developing or providing cyber security technology, and a fund aiming to outperform an index composed of futures contracts on 14 heavily traded commodities.