The Markets

Standard&Poor’s has launched three new Shariah-compliant indexes covering the Pan Arab region and publicly traded property companies in developed and emerging markets.

Standard&Poor’s has added the S&P Global Timber&Forestry Index, S&P Global Nuclear Energy Index, and S&P Global Alternative Energy Index to the group of S&P Global Thematic Indices.

Institutional investors have revived their use of commission payments for “soft dollar″ allocations, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seems to have backed off its push to...

Emerging equity market returns continued to outpace developed market returns in July, according to Standard&Poor’s global stock market review, The World By Numbers.

A new study suggests lifetime income annuities are the most cost-effective and least risky asset class for generating retirement income that will last for an individual’s lifetime.

Standard&Poor’s on Tuesday launched its S&P /GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices.

Nine U.S. equity investment styles posted negative returns in July, with greatest drop coming from SmallCap 600, according to Standard&Poor’s.

Two-thirds of active international equity portfolios outperformed the MSCI EAFE Index return of 10.7% for the first six months of 2007, according to consultant InterSec Research.

The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds went up slightly by $1.6 billion to $11.39 trillion in June, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI).

Stock and bond mutual funds experienced net inflows of $23.3 billion in June, according to data from the Financial Research Corporation (FRC).

Managed money accounts (70%) top advisers’ rankings of investment vehicles “gaining the most favor″ with their clients.

The combined assets of the nation's exchange-traded funds (ETFs) rose in June by $366 million, or 0.1%, to $485.88 billion, according to data from the Investment Company Institute...

Assets of the nation's retirement savings plans reached a record $16.4 trillion in 2006, and account for nearly 40% of household financial assets.

Citi Smith Barney’s monthly poll of affluent investors finds continued faith in the stock market, though confidence in the long-term investment climate is slipping.

Most Americans (59%) fear investment losses to the point where it is preventing their investment in the stock market.

Mid-cap growth stocks were up 7.23% in the second quarter, making them the star performers among the nine U.S. investment styles listed by Standard&Poor’s.

A scant 13% of Americans currently invest in international stocks and only 19% plan to do so over the next five years.

Without question, asset-allocation solutions—particularly target-date fund solutions—are well on their way to becoming a dominating force on retirement plan menus.

Advisers should not view the prevalence of lifecycle funds as a threat to their business, said Barbara J. Best, Vice President, Investments, Capital Strategies Group of Wachovia Securities;...

Second quarter returns of the world’s emerging markets outpaced that of the developed markets, according to Standard&Poor’s global stock market review, The World By Numbers.