The Markets

The median return of the State Street Universe (SSU) of total plans rose 5.3% in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to the State Street Corporation.

Investors worldwide contributed $40 billion of new cash flows to long-term mutual funds in November, two-thirds of which went to equity funds.

Causeway Capital Management LLC launched Causeway Global Absolute Return Fund, which will have long and short exposures to common and preferred stocks primarily in developed markets worldwide.

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets reached a record $995 billion in the United States at the end of 2010, according to State Street Global Advisors.

The stock fund gains seen in December are likely a temporary development, with investors expected to continue their focus on income and risk avoidance through 2011.

More than 70% of institutions expect alternatives to account for more than 10% of their portfolios over the next five years, according to a Morningstar survey.

Institutional investment managers expect global inflation to increase and interest rates to rise in the coming months as economic growth accelerates, according to a Northern Trust survey.

ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares began listing on the NYSE Arca on Friday, trading under the ticker AGOL, ETF Securities announced. 

Barclays Bank PLC has launched a series of iPath Exchange-Traded Notes (ETNs) linked to the inverse performance of the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Index Excess Return. 

The Certificate of Deposit (CD) Savings Plan is the newest addition to Indiana’s CollegeChoice 529 Plan, which already includes Direct Savings Plan and Advisor Savings Plan options.   

At the end of December, U.S. ETF assets stood at $1.005 trillion – the first time U.S. ETF assets surpassed $1 trillion.

Demand among U.S. investors for stock mutual funds accelerated by year end, with aggregate inflows to equity funds, including ETFs, near $25 billion, according to Strategic Insight, an...

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets rose $63.3 billion for the month of December—up 6.8%. 

Four out of five companies would drop money market mutual funds (MMFs) from their portfolios if a floating net asset value (NAV) becomes a requirement. 

Only 28 of the approximately 7,000 publicly-owned companies that report dividend information to Standard & Poor's decreased their dividend payment during 4Q2010.

A Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) survey finds asset managers are more focused on valuation for accuracy, risk management, transparency and accountability purposes.

U.S. REITs outperformed the broader equity market in 2010, matching their gains in 2009, according to the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT).

This will be the third straight year of double-digit gains for domestic stocks, predicts Bob Doll, Chief Equity Strategist and head of the U.S. Large Cap Series equity team at...

Worldwide, mutual funds added more than $900 billion in long-term net gains for 2010, according to a report from Strategic Insight, an Asset International company.

Stock and bond funds experienced net inflows of $11.3 billion in November, according to the latest fund flow data from the Financial Research Corporation (FRC).