Portfolio

WASHINGTON — Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment benefits plunged 33,000 to 342,000 in the April 19 survey week, the Labor Department reported yesterday, but a Labor analyst cited “no special factors.”

WASHINGTON—Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met in private with top lenders and servicers this week to warn them the housing market is continuing to deteriorate and press them for a new solution, several sources said Thursday.

Two ranking Congressmen sent the Securities and Exchange Commission a letter yesterday, urging Chairman Christopher Cox to cut a break on redemptions on auction-rate securities for mutual fund portfolio managers and their supporting operational and compliance teams. The Congressmen pointed to illiquidity and hard-to-price conditions for auction rates today.

The U.S. House of Representatives has gone on federal public record as warning the industry and government legislators that raising long-term capital gains on mutual fund investors any higher than it already is will seriously impair the markets, shareholders, and, eventually, retirees.

Fines Continue to be Levied on Fund Companies for Market Timing & Late Trading, With a Renewed Focus on U.K. Orders

After failing to redeem $580 million of the shares of three of its tax-free closed-end funds, Eaton Vance has successfully obtained private financing for the preferred shares in question.

In a lawsuit stunning for giving renewed life to the revenue-sharing scandals and for extending the period certain through 2006, Wells Fargo has been hit with a class-action lawsuit for allegedly sharing mutual fund revenue with brokers and other selling agents, without informing shareholders and through excessively high fees.

fund flows

While hedge fund activity in commodities is contributing to the surge of oil to record highs, long-term, fundamental supply constraints are the main culprit.

Senate Democrats in Connecticut are pushing for a state-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan for small businesses, designed for employers who can’t afford to offer a retirement plan to their workers.