Portfolio

Total money market mutual fund assets rose by $2.38 billion in the week ended Feb. 4, for a total of $3.906 trillion, the Investment Company Institute reported.

With the average target-date fund down 17% in 2008, investors might think twice about what has been one of the best-selling fund categories of the past few years, MarketWatch reports.

With few corporate bonds being traded these days, fixed income mutual fund managers are having a very hard time running their funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Financial planners are spending a lot of time these days trying to allay their clients’ fears, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Anyone who works with a financial adviser most likely has money in the stock market and, therefore, has experienced steep losses in the past year.

With the seven-day simple yield on money market funds now a mere 50 basis points, investors are beginning to look for other places to park their money. In the latest week for which figures are available, investors pulled $7.82 billion out of money market funds, iMoneyNet reported.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors Pre-Refunded Municipal Index ETF.

Morningstar has unveiled new research and ratings for the 3,000 mutual funds offered in Europe and Asia. With this new service, Morningstar is now offering written analysis on more than 5,000 funds. Worldwide, Morningstar tracks performance and operational data on 110,000 funds globally.

The Federal Reserve is extending a number of liquidity programs set to end on April 30 through Oct. 30 “in light of continuing substantial strains in financial markets.”

Fifty-five percent of the hedge funds in the U.S. are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Hedge Fund Research.

Vanguard is entering the UK mutual fund business for the first time and has chosen Tom Rampulla, director of sales for Vanguard Advisor Services in the U.S. to head up the unit, since it will initially focus on selling through financial advisers.