Van Eck Offers Alternative Mutual Fund
Van Eck Global, a money manager that offers diversification through global investing, is creating the Van Eck Multi-Manager Alternatives Fund, an open-end mutual fund designed to give investors exposure to a variety of investment strategies, including absolute-return strategies.
Prompted in part by the global financial crisis, Van Eck has launched the fund to offer investors a well-allocated portfolio that includes exposure to more alternative hedge-style strategies. The firm believes it will appeal to individuals and institutional investors who want the potential benefits of alternative investing but with lower costs and greater transparency and liquidity than private hedge funds.
Interest in alternative strategies has grown in the past ten years, but the asset class generally has been inaccessible to the average retail investor. The new Van Eck fund offers daily liquidity, no net-worth restrictions, a high degree of transparency and daily net asset valuation. Its multi-manager approach is designed to allow for a diversified mix of sub-advisors, open- and closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds as its underlying investments.
"This fund may give investors access to sophisticated asset management strategies in a single portfolio, providing diversification, hedging potential and, in some cases, it may capitalize on market dislocations as they develop globally," says Harvey Hirsch, senior vice president of marketing at Van Eck.
Jefferson National Accounts Rate High
Jefferson National's Monument Advisor now offers the most variable annuity sub-accounts with five-star ratings from Morningstar, says Morningstar Direct.
Monument Advisor is a flat-insurance-fee variable annuity with one of the largest arrays of tax-deferred investment options, more than 175. It has 50 sub-accounts with the five-star Morningstar rating, nearly double that of its nearest competitor. In addition, Monument Advisor has 46 sub-accounts with four-star ratings.
S&P Launches New Tools
Standard & Poor's is increasing the number of tools available through its Equity Research Services by adding to its MarketScope Advisor platform. This platform provides advisors with investment intelligence on asset classes such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and variable annuities.
One of the new additions is a HoldingScan tool that offers portfolio details and analyzes a portfolio's contents to show its exposure to asset classes, regions, sectors and individual holdings. Another addition is the Alerts function, which allows advisors to keep up with changes in specific securities and market activity.
FTSE And Record Join Forces
FTSE Group, a global index provider, and Record plc, a specialist currency investment manager, are partnering to offer a new range of currency forward rate bias indices. The indices will be designed to provide investors with a passively managed and transparent benchmark for currency forward rate bias returns for diverse portfolio construction, index tracking and benchmarking, says Mike Bruno, head of FTSE Group Fixed Income.
Vanguard To Merge Money Markets
Vanguard plans to merge its $6.7 billion Vanguard Treasury Money Market Fund into the lower-cost $21.8 billion Vanguard Admiral Treasury Money Market Fund in early August.