Portfolio

Barclay's Global Investors' introduction of four new exchange-traded funds attracted close to $800 million in assets on their first day of trading on the American Stock Exchange.

The money management affiliate of the Pitcairn Trust Co. of Jenkintown, Pa., has filed a registration statement to offer a lineup of nine mutual funds.

Munder Capital Management of Birmingham, Mich. filed a registration statement May 9 for a new closed-end Internet fund, the Munder @Vantage Fund.

Aegon USA/Transamerica of Los Angeles has formed a new investment management company, principally to give equity interest in the new company to the portfolio managers and other key executives formerly with Transamerica Investment Services, said Richard Latzer, chief executive officer of the new investment advisor, Transamerica Investment Management.

In the bull market, investors have stampeded to aggressive mutual funds. But will investors flock to bearish mutual funds with the same enthusiasm if the markets face a sustained bear market? That is a bet some fund advisers are taking - with mixed results.

NEW YORK - Online investment calculators and research on the Internet are augmenting rather than threatening the livelihood of financial advisors, according to a survey by the Forum for Investor Advice of New York.

Despite an average 14 percent decline in performance among science, technology and telecommunications funds during April, fund companies continue to introduce technology funds. The average mutual fund declined 3.3 percent in value during April.

Oppenheimer will offer a long-term capital-appreciation mutual fund to invest in U.S. and foreign emerging technology companies with significant growth potential, according to an April 25 filing with the SEC. Oppenheimer Emerging Technologies Fund will focus on companies involved in bandwidth, technologically advanced data transmission, telecommunications, and wireless and satellite communications.

The world of exchange-traded funds - so far dominated by two of the money management industry's largest players - is about to get an unconventional competitor.

On May 1, Calvert Group of Bethesda, Md. was to introduce its flagship Calvert Social Index which includes predominantly large-cap companies that have passed social screens Calvert employs under its socially-responsible investment mandate. Although Calvert has been one of the pioneers of socially-responsible investments, this is the first social index Calvert has created.