Portfolio

After acquiring more than $1 trillion in asset-backed paper from money market funds, the Federal Reserve is considering borrowing that money back from the funds through reverse repos to ease the stimulus plan and avoid inflation, and most funds think that is a good idea.

Dreyfus has introduced two funds-of-funds, the Dreyfus Satellite Alpha Fund and the Dreyfus Diversified Global Fund.

Bank of America has reached an agreement to sell the long-term asset management unit of Columbia Management to Ameriprise Financial for $1 billion. The bank is still considering what to do with its short-term asset management business.

Expecting strong third-quarter earnings reports from asset management firms due to the market’s rally, analysts are upgrading their outlook on the companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is concerned about the additional risk investment firms take on when they put cash collateral earned from securities lending into other uses, along with the lack of true transparency in the market. Thus, the SEC will conduct a “wholesale review” of the entire securities lending marketplace in a roundtable on Tuesday.

As the Federal Reserve begins to ease its extraordinary stimulus plan and works to stave off inflation, it is reportedly considering borrowing up to $500 billion from the $3.4 trillion money market fund industry rather than the 20 leading primary dealers, which aren’t expected to be able to provide more than $100 billion, the Financial Times reports.

Morningstar has acquired a minority equity stake in PitchBook Data, a provider of data on private equity transactions, investors, companies, limited partners and service providers.

Rather than simply generate reports for portfolio managers to use, fund analysts at leading companies including Fidelity, Putnam and MFS are getting more say in which stocks a fund selects in funds they are labeling “sector” or “research” funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Noting that 15% of 401(k) participants have engaged in some form of “leakage,” that is, hardship withdrawals from their plans or failure to roll the money over when changing jobs, between 1998 and 2006, the Government Accountability Office is recommending that Congress eliminate the ban on additional contributions for six months by those who make such withdrawals.

If global markets recover, investors may want to consider the greater growth opportunities that emerging market funds can offer over their domestic peers, particularly as growth is projected to be strong in developing countries, while the U.S. and other established nations struggle under mounds of debt.