Portfolio

Investors Sticking With Their 401(k)s

Strong performance and a conservative approach has enabled American Century Investments to outperform some of its competitors, despite market conditions that cost it 31.4% of its assets under management last year.

Here's a word to the wise for any executives of publicly traded companies who may be about to be visited by Portfolio Manager Roger Vogel: Don't roll out the red carpet and offer him a slick, well-rehearsed tour of a spotless and smoothly humming facility.

NEW YORK - Despite the terrible news about most stocks and mutual funds, investors should heed Sophocles' warning and "don't kill the messenger."

Money market funds took in an additional $11.30 billion in the week ended Jan. 28, the Investment Company Institute reported, for total assets of $3.904 trillion.

The Federal Reserve’s commercial paper holdings fell by more than $100 billion last week, with the balance sheet standing at $1.93 trillion, in a sign that the capital markets are returning to normal and that companies may be returning to the private sector for short-term financing.

State Street Corp. said assets under administration serviced by its private-equity fund team increased 60% last year.

David Corkins certainly has a knack for timing. He left the helm of Janus Capital’s flagship Janus Fund at the end of 2007 and has waited out the financial crisis the past year.

Fixed income mutual fund managers and other investors are beginning to move out of Treasuries into higher-risk debt instruments, including junk bonds, and that is good news, BusinessWeek reports. While it may not immediately spur the economy, it is at least helping to change the highly risk-averse mindset of retail and institutional investors alike.

In response to a report in The Boston Globe that Fidelity Investments is exploring a sale, chairman Edward C. “Ned” Johnson issued a rare response denouncing the rumor.