Investor

ROME - After more than a year of stable but unelected government, Italy appeared headed for a period of uncertainty Monday as results from a closely watched election showed a major backlash against the political establishment and signs of gridlock in Parliament. An inconclusive outcome threatens to unnerve investors and spark a flare-up of Europe's debt crisis. Investors are worried that prolonged instability in Italy could compromise efforts to improve competitiveness and to turn around a lingering recession in the Eurozone's third-largest economy.

Investors have been plowing billions of dollars into stocks this year, but new data show the torrent of money has been slowing this month  - particularly into U.S. equities.  Starting in January, investors began pouring into stocks after President Obama and Congress defused much of the so-called fiscal cliff. The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, has nudged investors into riskier assets like stocks by lowering interest rates and making safer investments less attractive. In the week ending Jan. 16, investors shoved $9.2 billion into equity mutual funds, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

Activist investors have succeeded for the first time in placing a shareholder resolution on the risks of greenhouse-gas emissions up for a vote at a major bank, a step toward making climate change an important consideration for corporations. The resolution, which follows years of protests over banks financing certain coal operations, is to be included in proxy material being sent to shareholders of PNC Financial Services Group of Pittsburgh before the bank's April 23 annual meeting.

Herbalife Ltd. Chief Executive Michael Johnson said the company has had "short discussions" with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who last week disclosed that he had purchased 13% of the company's stock and would consider efforts to take the company private. Johnson, speaking to analysts in a conference call Wednesday morning, did not elaborate. "Yes, we've had short discussions with Mr. Icahn but beyond that nothing concrete to discuss," Johnson said. Icahn and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman have engaged in a public battle about the value of Herbalife, a Los Angeles maker of weight loss and nutritional products.

Bill Sepe has gotten used to rejection. The 28-year-old Rancho Cucamonga native has put in nearly 200 unsuccessful offers since August on Inland Empire homes, varying from typical suburban ranches to classic craftsman homes. All this anguish comes in pursuit of a modest home in the exurb of San Bernardino County, the epicenter of the Southern California housing crash. Plummeting values here sparked a vicious wave of foreclosures. But it's precisely because prices fell so far here that Sepe can't buy a house now. In a sharp irony, many would-be homeowners in hard-hit markets can't compete with a flood of all-cash offers from investors, some backed by Wall Street war chests.

Small investors should beware of rising interest rates, a regulatory group warned Thursday. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued an “investor alert” warning individuals that their fixed-income holdings could lose value if interest rates rise. With interest rates hovering near record lows, a wide range of experts worry that small investors are not prepared - financially or emotionally - for the eventual likelihood that rates will rise. In general, an increase in the rates being paid on newly issued bonds, such as popular U.S. Treasury securities, erodes the value of older bonds.

Federal agents arrested 14 people, including a former deputy district attorney, on suspicion of running a stock manipulation scheme from Southern California that cost investors more than $30 million. Authorities said the scheme involved the heavy promotion of worthless stocks, which the perpetrators later sold for huge profits in a classic "pump-and-dump" scheme. More than 20,000 investors worldwide are believed to have been victims. Investigators with the FBI and Internal Revenue Service used wiretaps to secretly record thousands of telephone calls and text messages during a three-year investigation, building what U.S. Atty.

The Southland's housing market kicked off the new year with a sharp annual gain in home sales last month - the highest volume for a January in six years - as investors and cash buyers proliferated. The region's median home price notched a sharp 23.5% gain from the same month a year earlier, a reflection of both rising prices and a shift in the buying mix from lower-end starter homes to pricier digs. Buyers paid a median $321,000 last month, real estate firm DataQuick reported Wednesday.

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook criticized a rebellious investor for creating a "silly sideshow" by filing a lawsuit a few weeks before the company's annual shareholder conference. "Frankly, I find it bizarre that we find ourselves being sued for doing something that's good for shareholders," Cook said. "It's a silly sideshow, honestly. My preference would be that everyone take the money they are spending on this and donate it to a worthy cause. " Cook made his remarks during an interview at a Goldman Sachs technology conference Tuesday.

Another large investor has lashed out against the proposed leveraged buyout of Dell Inc., saying the deal led by founder Michael Dell undervalues the computer maker. “We believe the proposed buyout does not reflect the value of Dell and we do not intend to support the offer as put forward,” Brian Rogers, chairman and chief investment officer of T. Rowe Price, said in a statement Tuesday. T. Rowe Price controlled 4.4% of Dell shares as of Sept. 30, according to data from Thomson Reuters.