Even in times of interest rate uncertainty, a certificate of deposit (CD) can still be part of your cash strategy.
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China's currency-reserves manager has set up a New York operation to invest in private equity, real estate and other U.S. assets, according to people with knowledge of the move.
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Satellite mogul Charlie Ergen bid $2 billion for certain spectrum from LightSquared Inc., the wireless venture spearheaded by financier Philip Falcone that is currently navigating bankruptcy proceedings, said people familiar with the offer.
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Mutual-fund firms are joining activist investors in getting more aggressive over demands for change in how board members are paid at U.S. companies.
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A consortium led by U.S. private-equity firm Blackstone Inc. has proposed to acquire U.S.-listed Chinese technology outsourcing firm Pactera Technology International Ltd., in a deal that values the company at more than $660 million.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Energy stocks rose on Monday, the top gainer in the S&P 500 Index, soaring above other sectors and up 1.3% on the day.
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New York's top financial regulator subpoenaed a handful of Wall Street investment firms about their entries into a corner of the insurance industry that guarantees steady payments to hundreds of thousands of retirees and other consumers.
U.S. prosecutors are considering possible criminal charges against SAC Capital Advisors LP as a result of the government’s insider-trading investigation of the hedge-fund firm, according to people familiar with the matter.
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SHANGHAI—Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd. is raising a $1 billion private-equity fund that will invest in Europe and international companies seeking to expand in China, according to a person familiar with the situation.
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A special committee of Dell Inc. board members sent another letter to activist investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc. seeking more information about their takeover proposal, reiterating that the committee can't engage in ...
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U.S. prosecutors are considering possible criminal charges against SAC Capital Advisors LP as a result of the government's insider-trading investigation of the hedge-fund firm, according to people familiar with the matter.
Sometimes private-equity firms do little more than suck up money like a vacuum cleaner and leave someone else holding a big, ol' dusty bag full of debt.
Leon Cooperman has never been afraid to blow his stack. In fact, his volcanic tendencies are so well known on Wall Street that almost no one was fooled when the late Barton Biggs, Morgan Stanley's longtime market strategist, introduced a ...
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Energy stocks traded lower Thursday, with Hess Corp. among the top decliners as it ended a proxy fight with activist shareholder Elliott Management.
Hedge-fund manager Christian Zugel has made a mint in mortgage-backed securities, and he has also been wheeling and dealing in a lot of real estate. He has had to figure out how to fit a growing staff of 73 into a renovated garment factory, ...
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SAC Capital Advisors LP told clients it will no longer provide "unconditional" cooperation with a criminal insider-trading probe of the hedge-fund firm, marking an abrupt turn for a company that has spent months reassuring investors.
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Kate Endress is mired in a type of legal quagmire that is afflicting an increasing number of Silicon Valley startup entrepreneurs, but which few typically want to openly discuss.
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NEW YORK--An arbitration panel has ordered Goldman Sachs & Co. to pay roughly $2.5 million to a client who said she was sold an inappropriate investment in a private-equity fund.
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Blackstone Group LP is selling its interest in 30 shopping centers to real-estate investment trust DDR Corp. for $1.46 billion, resulting in a quick profit for the private-equity giant.
The good old Standard & Poor's 500 is turning in a strong performance this year. But judging by asset flows, it isn't enough for many stock investors. Money is flooding into unconventional index exchange-traded funds at more than twice ...
Billionaire hedge-fund manager William Ackman and a group of real-estate investors are in contract to buy a penthouse condo in Manhattan for more than $90 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — After these numbers, perhaps going private is not such a bad thing.That’s what many investors may be thinking Thursday afternoon after Dell Inc.s fiscal first quarter results came in way below Wall Street ...
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For decades, bond investors have been stuck in their own version of "Waiting for Godot."Year after year, some analysts and economists wait anxiously for yields to rise and prices to drop. Year after year, they have been stood up.
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HOUSTON—Hess Corp. replaced more than half of its board with new directors, including three backed by a dissident shareholder, in the most dramatic leadership shake-up in the oil company's 80-year history.
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At Sony Pictures Entertainment's lot near Hollywood, executives both love and hate what activist investor Daniel Loeb has said about their company this week.
Leveraged buyout firms, now called private-equity firms, sprang up to break up inefficient conglomerates and unlock shareholder value ("Private-Equity Firms Build Instead of Buy," page one, May 15). But if they actually build and run ...
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BUJAGALI, Uganda—A new dam at the headwaters of the White Nile, nearly 20 years in the making, generates almost half of this East African country's electricity.
It has always been difficult for investors to consistently beat index funds. It has been nearly impossible lately.And there's a double whammy: The small number of advisers who outperform the market rarely can keep doing so.
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Foreign-exchange funds suffered their worst performance in 10 months in April, as currency managers struggled with a market frequently swayed by central-bank policies.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. scored a victory in a New York state appeals court on Tuesday, winning the dismissal of a lawsuit filed against it by a bond insurer over a financial product that went sour during the ...
A fresh proposal from Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management, unveiled Friday, appears to offer Dell shareholders more value than the $13.65-a-share buyout bid from CEO and founder Michael Dell that the company's board approved in ...
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What makes a good fund manager?The answer to that question is arguably the most important decision an investor has to make. To many, the answer is easy: Just look at the returns. But recent research points to a different way of sorting out ...
With venture-capital funds drying up, young tech companies are getting desperate for new sources of cash.Last week, Donald Trump announced — with characteristic flair — his involvement with a crowdfunding startup named FundAnything. The ...
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In yet another twist in its convoluted proxy battle with Hess Corp., Elliott Management Corp. on Tuesday proposed refashioning the company's board to include both its slate of five board nominees and their Hess-backed rivals.
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Carl Icahn's missives ain't what they used to be.Dell's stock rose less than 1% Friday after the activist investor released an alternative proposal for the personal-computer maker to return a ton of cash to shareholders and remain a public ...
European stock markets turned higher Tuesday, taking inspiration from the U.S., where markets climbed after a top hedge-fund manager said he remains bullish.
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TOKYO—In his push to reconfigure Sony Corp., U.S. hedge-fund manager Daniel Loeb is following a long line of foreign investors who charged into Japan hoping to shake things up. Nearly all have failed.
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Coach Inc. is looking to bag an acquisition.The handbag and accessory maker's style has been to expand organically. But amid increasing competition, Coach is weighing the purchase of an accessories brand, according to people familiar with ...
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The Internal Revenue Service is examining the propriety of a tax practice used in some parts of the private-equity industry, in which firms convert management fees into investments that receive more favorable tax treatment, a senior IRS ...
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Two of Dell Inc.'s largest stockholders, investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc., proposed an alternative offer to a $24.4 billion deal to buy out the company's public stockholders.
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Business & Finance***The BOE held off from injecting more stimulus into the U.K.'s fragile economy, but incoming governor Mark Carney is expected to take action to shore up a fledgling recovery within months.
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Dell Inc. pushed up the timing for releasing its quarterly profits, which the company expects to be far worse than Wall Street had expected, according to a person briefed on the results.
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Goldman Sachs Group Inc. obtained a victory in New York state appeals court in a case involving a complex mortgage security, moving the firm further from a crisis-era cloud.
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A proxy advisory firm is recommending that J.C. Penney Co. shareholders oppose the re-election of director Steven Roth at the company's May 17 annual meeting as the fallout from former Chief Executive Ron Johnson's disastrous tenure at the ...
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The battle over the future of Dell Inc. heated up Friday after the company received an alternative proposal from Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management that may compete with a privatization offer by ...
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Some of the hedge funds that made fortunes in the housing-market crash are now betting on the recovery of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage giants.
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SHANGHAI—Private-equity company Baring Asia will pay $265 million for a minority stake in the India arm of French cement producer Lafarge SA.
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Ally Financial Inc. moved a step closer to getting out from government ownership on Tuesday after striking a settlement with its troubled mortgage subsidiary Residential Capital and the unit's influential creditors.
Tesla MotorsAside from posting the first quarterly profit in its 10-year history, the luxury electric-car maker scored a top rating from Consumer Reports.
Neiman Marcus Group Inc. is planning overtures to a handful of sovereign-wealth funds about a possible buyout of the luxury retailer, said people familiar with the deliberations.
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SYDNEY—One of the world's largest private-equity firms, Carlyle Group LP, has made an initial bid for Rio Tinto PLC's majority stake in an Australian copper-gold mine, a person familiar with the matter said.
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TOKYO—For years Sony Corp. steadfastly defended the synergies of owning both an entertainment and an electronics operation. But the conglomerate's vision is being challenged by activist hedge-fund billionaire Daniel Loeb, who is proposing a ...
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Investors are returning to Greece, lured by receding fears that the troubled country will leave the euro and the high returns offered by many of its battered assets.
New York landlords Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs have taken full ownership of the classic Seagram Building in Manhattan after paying off various other stakeholders.
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The opaque world of hedge funds is about to get a little more transparent.Most hedge funds, or private investment vehicles that pool capital, haven't been allowed to market themselves directly to the public in the U.S. for 80 years.
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Actavis Inc., a big maker of generic drugs that was an acquisition target a month ago, is in early talks about a potential acquisition of Irish drug maker Warner Chilcott PLC.
Anthony Chiasson's resume includes stints as an altar boy and a hedge-fund manager. Now it will have a new entry: inmate.A federal judge sentenced Mr. Chiasson Monday to 6½ years behind bars, one of the harshest terms handed down since ...
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Laboratory-equipment maker Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. allegedly hid information that a Mexican facility it sold last year was overrun by a drug cartel, according to allegations in a lawsuit filed Friday by the private-equity firm that ...
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average having just cracked 15,000, most of the 15 investment managers who spoke at the 18th annual Sohn conference on Wednesday in New York still found plenty to buy, including Procter & Gamble (ticker: ...
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Tech stocks put in a mildly upbeat performance Monday, as the latest events in the saga involving the efforts to take Dell Inc. private gained attention among investors.
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Online education provider Coursera is just over a year old and hasn't yet turned a profit. But it does have centuries-old colleges nervous.Daphne Koller, co-founder and co-chief executive of the Mountain View, Calif., company, insists ...
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You may divorce your husband, but you never divorce your mother-in-law.At least that's how it's worked out for Linnea Roberts, who describes her former mother-in-law, Ellen Wiesenthal, as "hip and cool," "superfun," and "incredibly ...
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Veteran stock picker Jeffrey Vinik plans to close his hedge fund after a run of poor performance that coincided with a string of changes at his firm.
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SAC Capital Advisors LP extended its deadline for investors to request to withdraw their money from its hedge funds until June 3, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.
The 15th-floor penthouse at the Residences at W Hollywood in Los Angeles is on the market for $45 million. The 25,000-square-foot penthouse has four bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 340-degree views of the Hollywood Hills, downtown Los ...
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Recent shaky U.S. economic data may not derail the stronger U.S. dollar story just yet.The Federal Reserve is likely monitoring economic data to see whether recent soft data is only a temporary soft patch, said Vassilis Dagioglu, head of ...
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"Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"Hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman appropriated the title of the game show for a presentation labeling multilevel marketing firm Herbalife Ltd. a "pyramid scheme," a charge the company disputes vigorously. Rather ...
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The private-equity firms buying BMC Software Inc. have also discussed buying Compuware Corp. and combining the two software companies, according to people familiar with the matter
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JOHANNESBURG—A club of wealthy families led by brewing scion John K. Coors is setting up a new private-equity fund that plans to invest $300 million in Africa and go toe-to-toe with other funds in the continent's frontier markets.
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Electric car maker Coda Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors after pronouncing its $38,000 sedan "a commercial disappointment" and failing to sell its assets outside of bankruptcy.
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A heavily indebted retailer with growing exposure to Europe wouldn't be an obvious choice for an IPO.But that hasn't stopped private-equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC from filing to take Claire's Inc. public. Having tapped out its ...
MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGEAmerican Century, the Kansas City-based investment firm, recently announced that it will be re-naming its target-date funds effective May 31, dropping the name Livestrong from its popular and successful line of funds.
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Bryan Elliott likes to take a contrarian view when it comes to evaluating restaurant companies. Rather than looking at same-store-sales growth and price/earnings ratios, he thinks cash flow and sales per square foot are better measures by ...
Now that the wave of investment in social media companies that produced IPOs for Facebook, LinkedIn and Yelp has fully washed through Silicon Valley into the public markets, venture capitalists are onto the Internet’s next new thing.
Business & Finance***China's yuan fell sharply against the U.S. dollar after Beijing unexpectedly introduced new rules intended to curb the flow of foreign currency into the country.
In 1977, a band of Los Angeles-based traders led by Michael Milken helped Texas International, an oil company, raise the first "junk" bond. The small issue—$30 million—opened a chapter in the history of finance. From then on, companies with ...
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock-market futures were mildly higher on Monday following the S&P 500 index’s record run above 1,600 and the April jobs report, which exceeded expectations.
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SAC Capital Advisors, the giant hedge-fund firm under pressure from investors and investigators, took the unusual step of disclosing plans to shore up its compliance efforts.
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China Mengniu Dairy Co. increased its stake in China Modern Dairy Holdings Ltd. to 28%, bringing two of China's largest dairy companies closer as the domestic industry works to restore confidence in the safety of its products.
Last August, Alex Mandl was hosting dinner guests in his Great Falls, Va., home when Michael Dell's number popped up on his cellphone. Mr. Mandl, Dell Inc.'s lead director, excused himself for what he expected would be a routine check-in ...
MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGEAmerican Century, the Kansas City-based investment firm, recently announced that it will be re-naming its target-date funds effective May 31, dropping the name Livestrong from its popular and successful line of funds.
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TORONTO—Highfields Capital Management LP, a Boston-based hedge fund, is pushing Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc. to end its expansion in the U.S. and buy back more shares in an effort to boost the company's profit and ...
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Herbalife Ltd. shares were little changed in late trade Monday after the nutritional-products seller raised its 2013 outlook after beating Wall Street’s earnings target for the 17th consecutive quarter.
Private-equity mutual funds. Leveraged ETFs. Managed-futures funds. A growing number of investment products like these employ so-called alternative strategies, holding out the promise of diversification for investors who haven’t forgotten ...
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Some Clearwire Corp. shareholders have formed a group with the aim of getting a higher buyout price for the mobile broadband provider than the one currently in place from Sprint Nextel Corp.
Breaking News From WSJ.com's Developments BlogThe former head of Sam Zell's Equity International is launching a new private-equity shop and consulting business, following his departure from Mr. Zell's firm last year that surprised many in ...
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Canada looks like a tempting target for short sellers.The country's commodity-and-debt-fueled boom has slowed, and consumer debt is at records. There are concerns about a housing bubble after residential-property prices surged nearly 90% ...
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Herbalife Ltd. reported its first-quarter earnings rose 9.9% as the nutritional-supplements maker posted double-digit growth in sales.Per-share earnings topped Herbalife's expectations and the company again raised its full-year earnings ...
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Diamondback Capital Management LLC is seeking to recoup $39 million in legal fees and compensation from a former hedge-fund manager convicted of insider trading last year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average has passed the 15,000 mark. But is that really reason to celebrate?The sentiment on Wall Street may be that our long national fiscal nightmare is finally over, but the stock market is just one barometer of ...
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Carlyle Group LP reported a $34 million first-quarter profit as the private-equity firm exited several investments and continued raising funds for future buyouts.
"To everything there is a season."No, the Byrds didn't originally write that. And when Pete Seeger composed Turn! Turn! Turn! years before the iconic '60s folk-rock group made it a hit, he put to music the words of the Book of Ecclesiastes. ...
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — BMC Software Inc. agreed to be acquired by investors led by private-equity firms Bain Capital LLC and Golden Gate Capital in a deal valued at $6.9 billion
Bitcoin startups are beginning to raise sizable investment capital even as industry leaders warn that hackers are abusing the Internet virtual currency for profit.
MADRID (MarketWatch) — European stock markets stuck to the sidelines on Friday ahead of all-important U.S. jobs data due for release later. Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC was among stocks declining after results, while Vallourec SA and ...
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It was on a trip to Liberia that Susie Sarlo came across an organization that truly matched the spirit of her family's foundation and, at the same time, helped her to hone a grantmaking focus.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (MarketWatch) — Private equity was always an exclusive, high-priced locale within the investment world. It was possible to make a fortune if you had a fortune to start; you needed one to be able to scrape together the ...
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SYDNEY—Banque Populaire Group has sold its stake in Australia's Bank of Queensland for 352 million Australian dollars (US$363 million), taking advantage of strong performance by the nation's banking stocks.
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Neiman Marcus Group Inc. is talking to banks about strategic options such as a public stock offering or sale, said a person familiar with the company, in the latest step toward a change in ownership for the luxury retailer.
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Organix has a problem. It's not organic.That status has put a snag in the hair-care company's efforts to sell itself.Organix's owner, Vogue International of Oldsmar, Fla., put itself on the block last year, hiring Goldman Sachs Group Inc. ...
A glitzy Manhattan real-estate crowd gathered in March to join Barry Sternlicht, chief executive of Starwood Capital Group, at a party celebrating the launch of condo sales at the Baccarat Hotel & Residences, a new development across ...

Ask the right questions before you hand over your money
A balanced portfolio can have a bigger impact on long-term performance than individual stock picking
Investing for retirement is more complicated than opening an IRA or maxing out your 401(k)
When choosing a stock mutual fund, consider performance, manager track record and cost before investing.
Even in times of interest rate uncertainty, a certificate of deposit (CD) can still be part of your cash strategy.