Mutual funds

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.

People working in higher education are concerned about retirement but few are changing their investment strategy or planned retirement date or seeking the help of a financial adviser, ING U.S. Retirement Services found in a survey conducted in conjunction with Synovate.

Speaking at the National Institute on Retirement Security in Washington Tuesday, Putnam President and Chief Executive Officer Robert L. Reynolds urged Congress and the Obama administration to strengthen all of America’s retirement savings systems, public and private.

Defined benefit plans delivered an average return of 10.13% between 1995 and 2007, whereas 401(k) plans rose an average of 9.06% a year, according to a report released Wednesday by consulting firm Towers Watson. While that differential is just over one percentage point, the six largest DB plans analyzed outperformed the six smallest by three percentage points in that timeframe.

Sixty-five percent of equities and 58% of options traders believe the S&P 500 Index will rise between 5% and 20% in 2010, according to a survey of 240 investors by online broker TradeKing. Many said they are more confident about the stock market now that the Obama administration has shifted its focus from healthcare reform to job creation.

The 4% decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in January could portend worse things to come for the stock market and the economy, Mohamed A. El-Erian, co-chief investment officer of PIMCO, recently wrote in a Bloomberg News column.

The Department of Labor’s new rules for advice in 401(k) plans are currently under review at the Office of Management and Budget and could be released as early as the end of the month.

iShares has registered nine additional country-specific exchange-traded funds with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Fidelity is offering a suite of 25 iShares exchange-traded funds to its online and wireless retail customers commission-free, and Fidelity has also reduced its online U.S. equity trade commissions to $7.95. for all of its customers.

The Labor and Treasury Departments have issued a request for information to determine whether annuities belong in 401(k)s. Specifically, the agencies want to know the benefits and the drawbacks to receiving retirement income in installments.

Affiliated Managers Group reported a fourth-quarter profit of $24.6 million, or 55 cents per share, reversing a loss of $83.7 million, or $2.12 a share, a year ago.