Mutual funds

Morningstar has acquired Footnoted.org, the terms of the deal undisclosed.

Fee-based financial advisers are grappling with the fallout from the crash of 2008 and see tactical asset management as the way to navigate the current market, according to a survey of 750 advisers by Jefferson National.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) rose in January by one percent to 93.2, the fifth consecutive month it has risen. However, it is down 0.7% from a year ago.

Many U.S. employers are increasingly losing confidence in their workers’ ability to save for retirement and, as a result, plan to step up efforts to help workers maximize 401(k) savings, starting by reinstating the match, Hewitt Associates found. In fact, 80% of companies that suspended or reduced their company match are planning to restore it this year.

BNY Mellon is hosting a web seminar for senior-level mutual fund executives on Wednesday at 1 p.m. on the impact of the new money fund rule changes from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reflecting their deep turmoil during the past two years, the banking and insurance industries rank as the least trusted in the U.S., with banks recording the only slide in faith the past year, according to the inaugural 2010 Edelman Financial Services U.S. Trust Barometer.

OppenheimerFunds Chairman John V. Murphy has joined Korn/Ferry as managing director for the asset and wealth management sector of the global financial market.

The actively managed exchange-traded funds sector is increasingly going mainstream, and Grail Advisors is riding right along with it. Grail is aggressively expanding its product lineup, introducing two fixed-income funds that brings to seven its stable of actively managed exchange-traded funds.

An industry group developing best practices for 403(b) retirement plans is coming closer to streamlining these plans to make them even more similar to 401(k) plans, but first they will have to get everyone to agree to speak the same language.

Defined Benefit Plans Beat 401(k)s By More Than 1%

The actively managed exchange-traded funds sector is increasingly going mainstream, and Grail Advisors is riding right along with it. Grail is aggressively expanding its product lineup, introducing two fixed-income funds that brings to seven its stable of actively managed exchange-traded funds.

Investors are about to test drive 401(k) plans with a 21st Century whole new look and feel.

Great West Retirement Services has introduced a new set of guaranteed income investment options, SecureFoundation. The products protect participants’ retirement income when the market drops, gives them some of the upside when the market rises, and guarantees retirement income for life.

With consumers pessimistic about the current state of the economy and the future, U.S. consumer confidence fell 32.4% in February from a month earlier, according to the RBC Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household Index.

Investors are about to test drive 401(k) plans with a 21st Century whole new look and feel.

It will be harder for advisers and money managers to outperform this year after a strong 2009, but there are still a few key areas of opportunity, Larry Adam, the chief investment strategist for Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, said during a conference call.

More than half of CPA financial planners say their wealthy clients are not confident in the stock market, according to a survey by the American Institute of CPAs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will examine the risk exposure and marketing of target-date funds in the coming year, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro told the Practising Law Institute Friday.

State Street Corp. announced Thursday it has entered into settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Massachusetts Attorney General and the Massachusetts Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of State to resolve investigations into losses made around certain active fixed-income strategies managed by State Street Global Advisors.

Investors placed $8.86 billion into long-term stock and bond funds in the week ended Jan. 27, bringing the past 46 weeks of back-to-back inflows to a total of $463 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.