Adviser fees a mystery to many clients

Just 43% of investors said they understood their adviser’s fee structure “completely” or “fairly well,” according to a…

Just 43% of investors said they understood their adviser’s fee structure “completely” or “fairly well,” according to a survey by Boston-based State Street Corp.’s investment management arm, and Knowledge@Wharton, an online business journal at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.

Investors often lose arbitration cases
Investors are usually on the losing end of arbitration disputes, recovering claims just 34% of the time, on average, according to a study to be released Wednesday, Reuters said.
Between 1995 and 2004, the study reviewed 14,000 arbitration cases.

Hedge funds challenge TD Ameritrade again
Two hedge funds have sent a second letter to TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. of Omaha, Neb., challenging its refusal to merge with another company.
JANA Partners LLC of New York and SAC Capital Advisors LLC of Stamford, Conn., which combined own 8.4% of TD Ameritrade, are also calling for the board to create a new committee that would look at merger possibilities.

Consumer confidence falls to 10-month low
U.S. consumer confidence, as measured by the RBC CASH Index, continues to fall.
The overall index fell to a 10-month low of 81.4, from last month’s 87.1.

CBOE to launch credit default options
The Chicago Board Options Exchange Inc. will launch options on the potential credit defaults for five companies June 19.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the CBOE regulatory approval to offer credit default options, which offer the ability to hedge or speculate on the risk of credit events such as bankruptcy, the CBOE said.