Portfolio

Fidelity Investments has joined the growing chorus of fund companies, brokerages and regulators warning investors about potential outsized losses in leveraged exchange-traded funds due to the effect of compounding.

Nearly one in five advisers think the financial crisis will last another five years, and 33% think the American way of life has been irrevocably changed for years to come, a survey of advisers from firms of all sizes by Phoenix Marketing International found.

Natixis Global Associates has introduced a multi-strategy, absolute-return fund in partnership with AlphaSimplex Group, the Natixis ASG Diversifying Strategies Fund.

Bond funds attracted seven times the amount of money than stock funds in the three weeks between July 1 and July 22, despite the impressive 9.9% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average—signaling very different investor behavior than previous rallies, USA Today reports. As the paper puts it, “The stock market may be roaring, but mutual fund investors are snoring.”

Despite this year’s arduous business environment, independent RIAs remain optimistic, according to the results of the 2009 Charles Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study. In fact, 84% of advisers surveyed expect to grow moderately or faster over the next five years, with 35% predicting aggressive growth and 49% seeing growth at a more modest pace looking forward.

A full 66% of investors do not expect the economy to improve until next year-or even later-and only 34% peg improvement for this year, online brokerage TradeKing found in a survey of 3,000 of its customers.

DST Retirement Hires Mineweaser as Director

SEC Investor Advisor Committee To Examine Fund Disclosure

The recent drop in financial markets has rekindled the demand for safer, conservative financial products like stable-value funds.

Sometimes we seek out opportunities for change. Other times change is thrust upon us. Market conditions in the past 24 months have produced seismic shifts in the mutual fund industry, and several business drivers have emerged that will shape our industry's future. As asset managers, distributors, suppliers and others evaluate their next steps, these demands will drive strategies and shape new solutions.