Despite the economic downturn, investors with more than $100,000 in assets were still optimistic about investing in green ventures, according to a survey released today by Allianz Global Investors.
A rocky history notwithstanding, the U.S. Global Investors Global Mega Trends Fund (MEGAX) hopes to turn the corner in 2009 by focusing heavily on infrastructure-related investing.
The deepening recession and rising unemployment took a toll on homebuilding giant Centex Corp. in the final three months of 2008 as the company saw new-home sales plunge 80%.
Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services today cut its credit ratings on AFLAC Inc., placing the Columbus, Ga., health carrier on CreditWatch with negative implications.
A bipartisan group of seven House members today sent a letter to Treasury secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, asking him to set up an office of insurance information if he is confirmed.
Shares of AFLAC Inc., a Columbus, Ga.-based health insurer, plunged after a research note from Morgan Stanley aired concerns about the company’s capital levels.
GE Asset Management Inc. of Stamford, Conn., today agreed to add the GE Investments Total Return Fund to Pacific Life Insurance Co.’s variable annuity platform.
A Luxembourg investment partnership has agreed to purchase two private-equity funds from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy estate.
The housing market continued its downward spiral in December, with new-home construction plummeting to a record low, according to data released today by the Department of Commerce.
Forward Management LLC of San Francisco, adviser to the Accessor Funds, announced today the launch of a mutual fund that gives investors access to “frontier” equity markets which are smaller, less liquid and less developed.
The default rate for issuers of U.S. corporate junk bonds — bonds that Standard & Poor’s rates BB+ and below — is expected to “catapult” to an all-time high of 13.9% by December, S&P said in a report today.
Pacific Investment Management Co. of Newport Beach, Calif., has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the Treasury Money Market and Government Money Market funds.
Hedge funds experienced record net redemptions of $155 billion in 2008, which when combined with a performance decline of 18.3% for the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index for the year, dropped total industry assets 25% to $1.4 trillion as of Dec. 31.
According to preliminary data from Hennessee Group LLC in New York, total hedge-fund assets declined by 39% to $1.21 trillion in 2008 — their lowest level since 2006.
The mysterious disappearance of a Florida hedge fund manager five days ago has prompted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission to join the investigation, published reports said.
Actively managed equity mutual funds suffered record net outflows of $208.3 billion last year, while equity index funds enjoyed net inflows of $28 billion, according to estimates from Morningstar Inc.
Two trade groups that represent the investment management industry want the Securities and Exchange Commission to hold a public hearing on the liquidation plan for a money market fund that collapsed in September.
The suit was filed by American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co., a major provider of index annuities, and other companies that market the products, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit after the SEC published its rule in the Federal Register today.
While a handful of carriers have received clearance to become banks or thrifts, Genworth Financial Inc. of Richmond, Va., continues to wait for the OK from regulators.
The Federal Reserve has cleared Protective Life Corp., the Birmingham, Ala., insurer, to become a bank holding company, making the carrier eligible to a slice of the $700 billion federal bailout.
