CHICAGO (Reuters) – Exchange-traded funds have seen exponential growth over the past decade, but just two firms — State Street Corp (STT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BlackRock’s (BLK.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iShares unit — were the main beneficiaries.

Now that may be changing.

Mutual fund giant Vanguard Group, which had been a minor ETF sponsor, has moved aggressively to introduce new products with even lower fees than some of the category leaders.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Even some of the savviest hedge fund managers got burned in 2008 by sticking with their hot stocks for too long as the market tumbled.

Now, with fresh signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, they are positioning to avoid making the same mistakes.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Even some of the savviest hedge fund managers got burned in 2008 by sticking with their hot stocks for too long as the market tumbled.

Now, with fresh signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, they are positioning to avoid making the same mistakes.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Top hedge fund managers went bargain hunting in the oil patch in the second quarter, buying shares whose prices had tumbled after BP’s Gulf of Mexico well disaster and in the face of lower oil prices.

Top managers including Carl Icahn, Eric Mindich and Dinakar Singh, whose stock picks are closely watched in investment circles, added energy stocks to their holdings even as billions of gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf, according to quarterly securities reports filed on Monday.

BOSTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Billionaire investor George
Soros in the second quarter stuck with his big bet on gold but
slashed his holdings in dozens of major U.S. companies from
Verizon Communications to Pfizer.

Soros also may have sold his entire holdings in Petroleo
Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

BOSTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) – Billionaire investor George
Soros in the second quarter stuck with his big bet on gold but
may have sold his holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
(PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

In a quarterly securities filing on Monday, Soros Fund
Management reported owning substantially fewer U.S. listed
stocks than three months earlier. The fund listed $5.1 billion
in equities as of June 30, down 42 percent from $8.8 billion at
the end of March.

BOSTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) – BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster
and falling oil prices crushed shares of energy companies in
the second quarter, attracting the attention of some of the
hedge fund industry’s sharpest long-term investors.

Top managers including billionaire Carl Icahn, Eric Mindich
and Dinakar Singh, whose stock picks are closely watched in
investment circles, added energy stocks to their holdings as
billions of gallons of oil gushed into the Gulf, according to
quarterly securities reports filed on Monday.

BOSTON (Reuters) – Despite the financial troubles of states and municipalities across the United States, financial advisers and mutual fund managers agree that the risk of wholesale municipal bond defaults is minuscule. In fact, new buyers are stepping in to take advantage of enticing bond yields.

“We do have some problems out there, but not anywhere as significant as some have portrayed,” said Thomas Metzold, co-head of municipal investing at money manager Eaton Vance Corp (EV.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in Boston. “Professional investors aren’t selling bonds. We know it’s overstated.”

BOSTON (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co, an underperformer so far this year, is one of several big banks whose shares could be poised for a revival now that U.S. financial regulatory reform is all but completed.

Diamond Hill Financial Long-Short Fund is bulking up on the No. 2 U.S. bank, led by hard-driving CEO Jamie Dimon, as the sweeping changes to rules for banks and brokerages appear close to passage in Washington, said Chris Bingaman, the fund’s co-manager.

NEW YORK/BOSTON, July 8 (Reuters) – Kohlberg Kravis Roberts &
Co’s (KKR.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) long-awaited listing on the Big Board brings a wide
investor audience to the iconic private equity firm and could be a
bellwether for rivals looking to follow suit.

The buyout firm will switch from Amsterdam-based Euronext on
July 15 to the New York Stock Exchange, joining rival Blackstone
Group (BX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), which went public in 2007.