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Disclosure and transparency, credit ratings, and internal controls top the SEC's agenda for a series of nationwide field hearings to examine the municipal securities markets, starting in San Francisco on September 21....

High performance and low assets yield good opportunity....

What to consider when exploring emerging markets debt....

American consumers earned more in July, but they also spent more and saved less, according to the Commerce Department....

Initial jobless claims fell 31,000 to 473,000 for the week ended August 21, the U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday, August 26. The sharp drop, the second biggest decline of 2010, followed three weeks of increased unemployment claims....

Sales of new single-family houses in July fell 12.4% to 276,600, the slowest pace of sales on record since 1963. July durable goods orders rose slightly, but the increase came mainly from airplane orders....

Variable annuity sales posted record highs in the second quarter of 2010, the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) reported Wednesday....

Existing-home sales dropped sharply in July to historic lows after the home buyer tax credit expired, but home prices continued to gain, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday, August 24....

Senators express ‘deep’ concern about limiting disclosures to only mutual funds....

Investors are pulling out of stock mutual funds in droves, though foreign stock funds are still attracting cash. ...

Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) is expected to roll out the DFA Commodity Strategy by year-end, according to a report by Morningstar Advisor on Monday, August 23. ...

An analysis of data provided by the Investment Company Institute, a mutual fund industry trade organization, show bond fund asset inflows have outpaced equity fund inflows for 30 straight months through June....

A Genworth Financial and Quantuvis Consulting study found advisors are sorely lacking in marketing skills. Fewer than one-third of advisors surveyed said they have a marketing plan. Of those, most aren't fully implementing their plan. ...

Stocks closed moderately lower Friday, August 20, as investors' pessimistic view of the economy deepened....

Buzz about the Elliott Wave went viral over the last week as media groups and bloggers talked about Robert Prechter’s forecast for U.S. stocks....

Troubling U.S. jobless claims figures and a lackluster manufacturing report out of the Philadelphia area drove the equities markets lower and Treasury prices higher as investors ran for cover in thin trading Thursday, August 19....

Gen Y investors will be able to take advantage of Vanguard's latest offering, the Vanguard Target Retirement 2055 Fund....

A round of relatively positive U.S. economic data buoyed the markets August 17, with July’s housing starts, producer price index, and industrial production numbers all posting increases and only housing permits showing a decrease....

For the third month in a row, builders surveyed in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo housing market index for August expressed a lack of confidence in the newly built, single-family home market....

Change affects Explorer Fund, U.S. Value Fund and Market Neutral Fund. ...

Fundamental Indexing for bond funds may change how you invest in that asset class. ...

ReFlow Management Co., LLC recently introduced the ReFlow Fund Flow Volatility Index to help mutual fund managers track asset flows and fund performance. ...

Natixis Global Associates added another alternative investment fund to its product lineup on Monday, August 9, with the launch of a managed futures mutual fund. ...

Investors continue to shun U.S. stocks and are increasingly putting their money into funds that feature bonds, commodities, and alternative investments, according to the latest research from Morningstar....

Growing weekly jobless claims for the last two weeks in a row have underlined the weakness of the U.S. employment market....

Driven by ongoing demand for bond funds, U.S. mutual fund investors added about $25 billion in net new cash to U.S. stock and bond mutual funds in July, Strategic Insight said....

Number of funds and ETF flows both expected to grow....

Morningstar has issued a series of target-date ratings and reports with data through the second quarter of 2010 for 20 of the largest target-date series in the industry. ...

The Federal Reserve’s policymakers kept interest rates at historic lows on August 10 as the nation’s economy continues to struggle against deflation threats, lackluster growth, and the possibility of a double-dip recession....

Morningstar has just released a study of the impact of mutual fund expenses on fund performance. ...

The number of jobs fell by 131,000 in July, leaving the U.S. unemployment rate flat at 9.5% compared to June and the number of unemployed persons unchanged, the Labor Department reported Friday, Aug. 6....

The Federal Reserve reported Friday, August 6, that total consumer credit outstanding fell 0.7% in June to $2,418.5 billion from $2419.8 billion in May, a decrease of $1.3 billion....

Safety first. That appears to be the new motto for investors trying to figure out how bad the emerging slowdown in U.S. economic growth is going to be....

Sun Life Financial (SLF) reported net income of $213 million for the second quarter of 2010, compared with net income of $591 million in the same period last year. ...

The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG) reported second-quarter 2010 net income of $76 million, or $0.14, vs. a year-ago net loss of $15 million, or $(0.06) per diluted share. ...

The company says net outflows from Calamos’ SMA accounts were in line with expectations; in the first quarter, the fund manager increased account minimums for convertible-based strategies....

Bullish economic news was not to be found on August 3 as personal income and spending were reported flat in June while wages paid fell. Pending home sales declined, and factory orders fell for the second month in a row....

Natixis Global Associates (NGA) launched the Westpeak ActiveBeta Equity Fund in conjunction with Westpeak Global Advisors on Tuesday, August 3. ...

In a July 30 letter to the Insurance Company Institute (ICI), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) urged funds that used derivatives to "assess the accuracy and completeness of their disclosure."...

Despite remaining in the black during the economic downturn, Principal Financial Group, Inc. reported disappointing second quarter earnings on Monday, August 2. ...

High-net-worth survey shows wealthy investors understand the need to diversify....

Putnam Investments has named Dr. W. Van Harlow director for investment retirement solutions, the firm announced Wednesday, July 28. ...

Janus Capital Group rolled out Perkins Value Plus Income Fund, the first product it will jointly manage with another firm, on Thursday, July 29. ...

For the second month in a row, new orders for manufactured durable goods in June fell, posting a loss of $2.0 billion, or 1.0%, following a 0.8% decrease in May, the Commerce Department reported....

Knight Capital Group, Inc. is getting into the business. ...

New home sales rose to a rate of 330,000 sold in June, 23.6% higher than the historically low revised rate of 267,000 homes sold nationwide in May, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday, July 26....

Existing home sales fell 5.1% in June, with 5.37 million single-family homes, townhomes, condos, and co-ops sold compared to 5.66 million in May, the National Association of Realtors said....

The Conference Board’s leading economic index for the U.S. fell 0.2% in June to 109.8, following a 0.5% increase in May and a 0.1% decline in April, the board said Thursday, July 22....

Goldman Sachs reported net earnings of $613 million for second-quarter 2010, an 82% drop from quarterly earnings a year ago, at $3.44 billion. Earnings per common share were posted at 78 cents versus $4.93, 84% lower....

BlackRock reported Q2 2010 net income of $432 million, up $214 million from a year ago and up $9 million from the first quarter. ...