Reuters Reports Barclays Not Selling BGI

Early Thursday, a Financial Times blog reported rumors that British financial services giant Barclays Plc was considering selling its Barclays Global Investors asset management business. Like other big London-based banks, Barclays has been hit hard by the recent credit crisis. 

But Reuters later reported that an inside source refuted such speculation.  BGI refused to comment. 

You can read the Reuters story here. The Financial Times blog can be found here.

Perhaps even better is an analysis by Financial News Online, a Dow Jones news service. It points out that BGI is the largest asset manager in the world and that it could fetch attractive prices for its banking parent. But it also notes that Barclays’ chief executive has recently said that he expects BGI to be a key growth engine for the entire company going forward. 

You can read the Financial News Online

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Advisor says corporate bonds still have legs, but currency ETFs are not one of his favorites for the new year.

 

"Big Joe" Clark has his wish list for 2009. And it includes some exchange-traded funds that even Santa Claus might find useful as stocking stuffers.

At the top are corporate bonds. In the coming year, the Anderson, Ind.-based advisor is expecting investment-grade corporates and high yield debt markets to perform like stocks do in more-normal times.

As a result, Clark is buying more of the iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index (NYSE: LQD) in client portfolios. It's a fund he held during the latter half of 2008.

At the same time, Clark is initiating new positions in the iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond Index (NYSE: HYG).

"Both are moving up in terms of prices," he said. "That means their yields are dropping some. But they're still yielding much better than Treasuries

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Corporate Bond Funds Attracting Attention

While Treasury yields keep tanking, spreads with corporate bonds continue remain at historically high levels.

In this Barrons.com article, the risk vs. reward of adding more corporate debt to your portfolio is explored. A number of exchange-traded funds are mentioned as possible candidates, including the iShares Iboxx Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index (NYSE: LQD).  

You can see the story here.

Trend Watching In ‘09

With markets in such a state of flux, BusinessWeek has a look at what strategists and advisors see as the big trends entering a new year.

They talk about a range of investment vehicles to get ahead of the curve, including exchange-traded funds.

You can read the story here.

 

ETF's Gold Bullion Holdings Rise

This is just a short piece from Reuters, but might be of

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