Investment Instruments

The billionaire investor says public pension plans threaten the financial health of U.S. cities and states more than taxpayers realize.

Investors are snapping up exchange-traded bond funds (ETFs) at the fastest rate since the launch of the first bond ETF in 2002, according to TrimTabs Investment Research.

The tax plan by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp would further limit the mortgage-interest break and end the deduction for state and local taxes, according to a nonpartisan congressional summary.

Things are dire enough that a coalition of employers and labor unions is asking Congress for permission to cut benefits to retired truck drivers, miners and others as a last resort in order to prevent plans from going under.

Sales of annuities jumped 17 percent in the fourth quarter, the biggest gain in 11 years, as higher bond yields buoyed insurers that offer the savings products.

U.S. stocks erased losses, sending the Standard & Poors 500 Index above its record close, after companies from Macys Inc. to Home Depot Inc. reported higher- than-estimated earnings.