Investors

Hollywood is littered with failed entertainment companies started by starry-eyed moguls with dreams of taking on the big studios and competing alongside them. In the case of one, success brought with it something of a nightmare. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

www.investinginbonds.com If you're reluctant to invest in stocks these days -- and hey, you're not alone -- you may be considering bonds. But with a bewildering variety to choose from, it's easy for new investors to get confused. A good place to start is Investinginbonds.com, produced by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assn. The site offers help for novices as well as tools for experienced bond investors. Newcomers should start with the "learn more" column on the right-hand side.

German carmaker Daimler said Monday that the sale of a 9.1% stake to an Abu Dhabi investment fund gives it an advantage over rivals that have yet to seek additional cash as automotive markets shrink. Daimler raised $2.66 billion selling new shares to Aabar Investments. The money will be used to finance fuel-saving technology such as development of battery-powered vehicles, Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said.

David Preefer sold his entire stock portfolio last summer because he feared that share prices, already down sharply from record highs reached in 2007, still had a lot further to fall. It turned out he was right. But a striking rally in the last three weeks has the retired lawyer and many other investors across the country asking themselves: Is it time to get back into stocks?

Ready to give the stock market a try? Rallies like the sharp upturn the market has had since March 9 tend to give reluctant people the urge to invest in stocks again. But if you are among them, remember there is no clarity yet that this rally is for keeps. Often in bear markets, or long-term losing periods like the one stocks have been in since October 2007, there are rallies that look good for a while, only to be replaced by downturns.

Bond investors this year have shed much of the abject fear that gripped them in the fourth quarter. The result was that most categories of bond mutual funds posted gains in the first quarter as bond prices either rose or didn't fall enough to negate their interest earnings. The exception: funds that focus on U.S. government bonds. They had been a favored hiding place during the market and economic calamity of the fourth quarter.

For people who lack the time, expertise or inclination to put together their own retirement portfolios, asset management firms have increasingly marketed "target date" mutual funds as a no-worry, hassle-free solution. The idea: You put the bulk of your retirement savings into a fund pegged to your target date -- the approximate time you expect to retire. Over the decades, without any action by you, the fund's holdings gradually become more conservative, leaving you with a comfortable nest egg.

Maguire Properties Inc., the largest office landlord in downtown Los Angeles, rejected a request Monday from Boston-based Winthrop Realty Trust to buy a larger stake in the real estate investment trust. After Winthrop announced its intentions, shares of Maguire jumped as much as 92% to $1.73 before closing at $1.25, up 35 cents. Los Angeles-based Maguire declined Winthrop's bid after the market closed. Winthrop, also a real estate investment trust, already owns 9.

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. made an eleventh-hour deal Monday with two bondholders that will keep about 28% of $316 million in convertible debt out of the hands of activist shareholder Carl Icahn. The company timed the private transaction to the expiration of Icahn's offer to investors to pay a premium for tendering their bonds. It could not be immediately determined how many bondholders took Icahn up on his bid.

The trustee liquidating Bernard Madoff's defunct money management firm told 223 investors to return as much as $735 million or face legal action, a person familiar with the matter said. "The trustee demands that you immediately return such amounts to the trustee for the benefit of all defrauded creditors" of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, according to a copy of the letter.