The Congressional Human Rights Caucus is pressuring mutual fund companies voluntarily to divest their holdings in companies that do business in Sudan.
The sputtering economy is continuing to take a toll on college savings, but Section 529 college savings plan officials remain upbeat.
The extreme stock market volatility kicked off a week ago when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 500 points underscored the fear spreading across the investment community, leaving financial advisers scrambling for answers and sound advice.
Financial advisers could soon find themselves paying more for AIG's variable annuities.
Last week's implosion on Wall Street has given financial advisers and their clients a jolt of unprecedented proportions.
Defending his decision to drive Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. into the arms of Bank of America Corp. in less than 48 hours of negotiations, Merrill chief executive John Thain told the firm's 16,000 brokers last Monday that he had saved their jobs.
The move followed the emergency action announced yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily prohibiting short sales of shares of certain financial companies.
Legg Mason Inc. has entered into agreements to support three money market funds: Citi Institutional Cash Reserves, Western Asset Institutional Money Market Fund and a fund for offshore investors, CILF U.S. Dollar Liquidity Fund.
“This is a tough environment to launch a new financial product,” said Neel Kashkari, assistant secretary of the Department of the Treasury, but “never has the market needed this financial product as much as we need it now.”
The Department of the Treasury announced today that for the next year, it will insure the holdings of any publicly offered eligible money market mutual fund that pays a fee to participate in the program.
