Portfolio

WASHINGTON -- The $12 trillion mutual fund industry will hit record sales of 20% or greater in 2010, driven by continued demand for bonds, alternative investments and international equities, Strategic Insight projects.

Competition Critical for Lifetime Income: SPARK

PALM DESERT, Calif. — Shortly after the chief systemic risk officer of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation warned attendees at a securities operations conference Wednesday here that Greece's crisis was a systemic problem, the Dow plunged 1,000 points.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is launching a nationwide inquiry into the municipal market that will lead to recommendations for specific statutory and regulatory changes to better protect investors, an SEC official said at the Investment Company Institute general membership meeting here Friday.

Donohue: ‘We are moving quickly.’

Add target-date funds to the list of headaches for advisers and investors.

WASHINGTON—The Department of Labor and the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday issued an investor bulletin on target-date funds to better explain their intended function, glidepaths and appropriate use (see “SEC, DOL to Require More Target-Date Info,” MME 5/3/10).

WASHINGTON—The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to issue new rules on the use of derivatives in mutual and exchange-traded funds, Andrew “Buddy” Donohue, director of the division of investment management, told executives Friday at the Investment Company Institute’s General Membership Meeting.

There’s a move for more transparency in target-date funds, although some market observers are convinced they won’t solve the current problems.

WASHINGTON - Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro today said the SEC is embarking on a nationwide inquiry into municipal securities that will lead to specific recommendations for changes to laws and regulations to better protect investors and the market.