Mutual funds

Two veterans of the hedge fund world are touting a product they say lets advisers focus less on investment decision-making and more on business development and client service.

In 2011, 401(k) plans will turn 30, but the milestones the mutual fund industry has reached in this time are but a nanosecond in the history of U.S. retirement policy.

Wherever the money's going, it's not going to municipal bond mutual funds.

As the private-label mortgage bond market comes back to life, real estate investment trusts may play the lucrative central role that belonged to banks and Wall Street firms during securitization's pre-crisis heyday.

Treasury Offers Interim Tax-Credit Bond Guidance

In 2011, 401(k) plans will turn 30, but the milestones the mutual fund industry has reached in this time are but a nanosecond in the history of U.S. retirement policy.

The pace of mergers and acquisitions in the asset management industry is expected to pick up for the rest of this year both nationally and globally after tumbling in the first quarter.

ProShares has launched four new exchange-traded funds that seek to provide 200% of the daily return of their respective indexes.

Investor confidence among millionaires rose to its highest level in more than two years as optimism about the economy increased.

Retirement and uninsured medical expenses are the most pressing financial concerns for Americans, according to a survey conducted for the American Institute of CPAs by Harris Interactive.

WASHINGTON—Although some of the “most profound” proposals in regulatory reform made during the wake of the economic collapse are now not likely to happen, Richard Ketchum, chairman and CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Thursday that the financial services industry still has a responsibility to act aggressively at detecting fraud before it’s cleaning up the mess at the end.

The Department of Labor announced that beginning in August, it will require asset management firms to provide further information on the risks and benefits of investing in target-date funds, including details on their glidepaths, to employers and employees.

Seven of 10 employed individuals have given up on the idea of retirement, according to the 2010 EBRI Retirement Confidence Survey.

Fidelity Investments has hired William J. Henderson as chief executive officer of Fidelity Clearing Canada., reporting to National Financial President Sanjiv Mirchandani.

WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department released interim guidance yesterday instructing municipal issuers how to issue four tax-credit bonds as direct-subsidy bonds, as was authorized by a jobs law enacted in March.

Armed with its first full period of earnings since buying Barclays Global Investors, BlackRock announced its profits quintupled in the first quarter.

As Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reached out to Republicans to get them on board with financial reforms, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who won the seat vacated by former Sen. Edward Kennedy, vociferously defended the mutual fund industry.

Wherever the money’s going, it’s not going to municipal bond mutual funds.

NEW YORK—Dividend-paying stocks may be the best option for investors looking for income, said Jason Brady, managing director and portfolio manager of Thornburg’s limited-term income and U.S. government strategies funds, speaking at the annual spring forum of the Financial Planning Association’s New York chapter last week.

Although financial advisers expect 2010 to be a great year, wirehouses are still feeling the turbulence, and concerns about breakaway brokers, although waning, remain, according to Aite Group.