Portfolio

This was a tough year to launch any new product, and exchange-traded funds were no exception.While ETFs were anticipated by many to overtake mutual funds due to their ability to trade like stocks, the crippling global economic crisis of 2008 put a halt to that growth for now, forcing dozens of new ETFs to close and hundreds more to delay launching until conditions improve.Approximately 70% of the 730 U.S.-based ETFs opened in the last three years, but that pace has slowed significantly this past fall. Many ETFs based on the healthcare industry are liquidating, such as those of New York ETF firm XShares Advisors, and many exchange-traded products based on commodities like oil have been hammered by extremely volatile price swings.Actively managed ETFs also failed to garner widespread support in 2008.

In a speech this week at the National Press Club in Washington, Investment Company Institute President Paul Schott Stevens reported that only 3% of 401(k) plan participants stopped contributing to their plans in the first 10 months of 2008, despite a staggering 40% decline in the stock market. The ICI based its figures on an analysis of the records of 22.5 million plan participants.

Former hedge fund Bayou Management executive Samuel Israel III was ordered on Friday to undergo medical and psychological tests at the Devens Federal Medical Center prison in Massachusetts in the last week of December. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas ordered the tests to determine whether Israel is competent to have pled guilty to bail jumping.

One-quarter of 401(k) participants have money invested in a lifecycle fund, but, on average, only 7% of DC plan assets are invested in such funds, according to a joint report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Investment Company Institute.

Dreyfus has launched the Dreyfus Global Sustainability Fund, linked to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. It is the first time a U.S. mutual fund has tracked the index.

President-elect Barack Obama has named regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission after he takes office next month.

The Profit Sharing/401k Council on Thursday issued the results of a survey on benchmarks for 403(b) plans, so that the not-for-profit sponsors of such plans can gauge how well they are running them, in terms of such details as the employer match, funds offered and participation rate. In the past, 403(b) sponsors could only obtain 401(k) data.

Legg Mason has hired Peter Sundman as president and chief executive officer of its ClearBridge Advisors subsidiary.

Fidelity Investments has been taking advantage of new changes to 403(b) regulations to expand its presence in the higher education retirement business, adding more than 50 new plans this year.

Three hundred and forty four hedge funds liquidated in the third quarter, considerably higher than the previous record of 267 in the fourth quarter of 2006, according to Hedge Fund Research.