Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) founder and co-chief investment officer Bill Gross offered a revised view of the global investing landscape in a letter published on the company’s website. 

As the manager of the Pimco Total Return Fund, Gross’s 2011 investment decisions were driven in part by the “new normal” thesis. 

The new normal view suggests that investors should seek emerging market debt because developed countries will experience a prolonged period of sluggish growth, high unemployment and inflation. 

In an extraordinary piece of investigative journalism, Bloomberg Markets Magazine describes the real financial bailout action that took place when banks tapped into the Federal Reserve’s Term Auction Facility for additional borrowing at below market rates.

Select highlights include:

“Trees grow” is an adage that has stuck with me over the past several years.

In a post financial crisis interview, a successful investment manager was talking about his decision to load-up on Citigroup and a handful of other banks in early 2009 when the decision to do so was difficult to say the least.

Wally Weitz is a hugely successful and yet relatively low profile money manager.

His performance over a very long period of time credibly places him among the world’s top performing investors.

Like his Omaha neighbor Warren Buffett, Weitz is a deep value investor.  His fundamental investing criteria is the price of a security relative to its intrinsic value—the lower the price the better.

In the video below, Weitz speaks to Bloomberg about his biggest investment mistake.

The 2008 financial crisis hit the Hartford Financial Services Group harder than many of its peers.

At a recent investor meeting, executives from The Hartford discussed how the company has positioned itself to avoid a repeat of 2008—largely through de-risking of its balance sheet.

The following is a high-level representation of changes in the composition of assets in The Hartford’s investment portfolio:

Don MaNay is a financial columnist, a Huffington Post contributor and an expert in the field of structured settlements. 

Don’s financial guidance is refreshingly straightforward, filled with good common sense, and geared towards a Main Street audience.  His most recent book is titled Wealth Without Wall Street: A Main Street Guide to Making Money. 

We had an opportunity to speak to Don about his financial practice and his most recent book.  

Japan’s experience over the past 20 years provides solid support for those who believe that there is a causal link between demographics and deflation.

As societies such as Japan age, the large numbers of people approaching retirement tend to save more and consequently spend less on current consumption.  The thinking is that this type of large-scale deferred consumption can lead to price decreases.

For anyone interested in exploring this issue further, David P. Goldman produces some very interesting content on the topic.

Structured products are hot.  U.S. sales rose 46 percent in 2010 to $49.5 billion.

The appeal is understandable in the wake of the financial crisis.  As folks in the indexed annuity business know, a floor of principal protection or "guaranteed" income combined with some upside potential is an easier sell in the current environment.

MIT Professor Robert Merton addresses the challenge of financing retirement income in a lecture delivered this past January.

Merton briefly discusses the financial crisis and suggests that it is unproductive to think about digressing to a financial world that preceded Glass-Steagall and financial innovation.  Merton’s view is that financial engineering is indispensable in addressing the large and complex issues of pension and retirement finance.

The fear index seems to be signaling that all is well.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange volatility index (“VIX”) represents the short-term (30 days) implied volatility of a S&P 500 option.  The VIX—also known as the fear index—has returned to pre-financial crisis levels.

The last time the VIX was at this level was last April—right before the index surged as a result of the flash crash and sovereign debt rumblings.  Before that, comparably low levels date back to pre-financial crisis 2007.