Portfolio

"We should send letters to the parents of the Gen X'ers telling them to tell their kids to join their 401(k) plans,'" Kathy Sharpless, managing director and director of communications of Putnam Investments, remembers a dean from a leading college saying at a 401(k) roundtable that Putnam held a year ago.

FMR Corp., the parent company of Fidelity Investments of Boston, plans to sell $750 million in corporate bonds, the company and independent credit rating agencies said last week. The funds will be used for general corporate purposes, said Thomas Eidson, a Fidelity spokesperson. Fidelity has no plans to use the proceeds to acquire another company or as the first step in going public, Eidson said. He declined to disclose details of Fidelity's plans, citing federal securities laws' limitations on public comment while the sale is pending. The sale marks the first time that Fidelity has issued corporate bonds.

Salomon Smith Barney and SSB Citi Asset Management Group, both of New York, have introduced a new 401(k) program aimed at small to mid-size companies. Called k Choice, it is Citigroup's first 401(k) program to offer mutual funds from all three of SSB Citi Asset Management's fund families: Salomon Brothers Mutual Funds, Smith Barney Mutual Funds and CitiFunds.

OppenheimerFunds of New York is creating a new fund family that will be sub-advised by Trinity Investment Management Corp. of Boston, a recent acquisition.

Franklin Templeton Distributors of San Mateo, Calif., introduced the Franklin Large Cap Growth Fund June 7. The fund invests in companies with market capitalizations of $8.5 billion or more, for long-term capital appreciation. The fund will aim to invest in companies that will have revenue growth in excess of the overall economy, either through above-average industry expansion or market share gains, according to Terri Spath, portfolio manager.

Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J., has introduced three unusual sector funds that mix enhanced index investing with active management. The funds, introduced May 26, are the Prudential Technology Fund, the Prudential Health Sciences Fund and the Prudential Financial Services Fund.

Some new index funds are being developed that will be based on a Dow Jones index that satisfies the strictures of Islamic investors.

Guinness Flight Investment Management of Pasadena, Calif. and Wired magazine have a challenger as to who can claim having the right definition of the "new economy."

Even though Internet stocks have recently been in a slump, there are a number of mutual fund companies poised to introduce their own Internet index funds.

Monument Funds Group of Bethesda, Md., best known for its Monument Internet Fund, launched the Monument Medical Sciences Fund on May 25.